The Wolf Amoung Us (Part 3)
by FriendsWithTheMonster
Summary: Sequel to The Wolf You Feed: After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late? Season 5: Peter Hale/OC
1. Chapter 1

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 1:**_

It had started off slow: the agonizing pain, the never ending sweats, paired with her body temperature dropping significantly, not to mention the chills that caused her body to shake so hard that it ached.

Sydney hadn't been entirely sure what she was expecting when she left Beacon Hills but to be up most of the nights from the nightmares and being so cold she feared she'd never be able to get warm again, that definitely wasn't part of it. There was something wrong, something much deeper going on and Sydney could only conclude that since Peter Hale had his hands in her life, that he was most likely part of it.

Aidan and Ethan had been great to her so far, Aidan being the one too often rushing into her room in the middle of the night to pull her out of her hellish nightmares. He'd hold her while she fought off the tears and he'd draw out whatever pain he could. Ethan was constantly offering to make her tea or something to eat, and when it started getting even worse, he had divulged particular information that he thought might help Sydney get over whatever was going on.

Together, the two boys had found the location of someone rather knowledgeable with the werewolf lifestyle. Sydney had objected at first, there was no way she was going to go to some human doctor to see if he could diagnose her with something, anything that might clue her in to what was happening, but gradually everything became worse.

The nightmares turned even darker and on more than one occasion she had watched not only Peter die, but herself as well, and when she woke up, she had needed ample time to calm down because, being so many miles away, she never really knew what was going on with Peter. Was he suffering just the same as her? Was he constantly kept drugged and compliant within Eichen house? Was he even still securely locked away from the rest of the human population?

With those sorts of questions flooding through her head, Sydney had taken matters into her own hands. She had sent Aidan and Ethan out to see if they could find some strong sleeping pills and a hefty bottle of vodka. Yes, she could fight this thing on her own; she didn't need a doctor, not even one that moonlighted as a supernatural medical practitioner. She was an alpha, she had her pack, and that was all she'd need.

It didn't take more than a night for Sydney to realize that sleeping pills and booze weren't going to cut it, in fact, her nightmare that night had been particularly awful and when she woke up, she knew that this wasn't just going to go away.

In her dream, Peter had handed her over to Kate Argent and taunted her as she died but with her last little bit of life, she then watched Kate execute him, sending his limp body stumbling to the floor next to her.

Aidan had spent hours reassuring her that Peter wasn't dead, that she'd feel something inside of her breaking had his death really occurred, but Sydney wasn't able to relax, not even as the sun rose outside the house.

Everything had become too hard, too much for her, and it was when she started getting nauseous and was unable to keep food down, that she had reluctantly agreed to see this 'Doctor Steve' that the twins raved about.

There had been a young girl sitting behind the glass windows acting as a receptionist when she wandered into the doctor's office. Sydney had immediately picked up on the scent, this girl was a wolf, and by the look in her eyes, Sydney knew that this girl was aware that she was one too.

When the girl behind the window's eyes flashed gold, Sydney replied quickly with a flicker of her own eyes, her vibrant red alpha eyes. That was another thing that she was losing control over, she was finding that she was unable to hide her red irises behind the blue eyes of a killer, which worried her almost more than the other symptoms.

"How are you today?" The girl behind the window asked politely and made quick work of gathering up a few sheets of paper before clipping them to a board and sliding them through the bit of open space at the bottom of the window. Sydney took hold of the board and glanced at the first sheet, immediately catching some of the ridiculous questions.

"I'm good." Sydney replied back slowly.

She had never really been to a doctor before, not in the human sense. She had seen Deaton a few times and there might have been a doctor on her long list of full moon companions but that had been more roleplaying than anything. No, this was her first trip to a real doctor's office and she knew that no matter how hard she tried to hide it, the werewolf behind the desk could hear her heart pounding against her chest.

"Hey, you don't have to be nervous." The girl murmured softly and Sydney watched as she handed her a pen, motioning for Sydney to have a seat in the waiting room, which was thankfully empty.

Sydney remained right where she was standing though and made no move to take the pen from the girl. She looked to be about Stiles' age, maybe a little older, but definitely younger than her. Sydney leaned her elbow against the edge of the counter and stared at her, wondering how big of a threat this girl was and if the doctor was some sort of supernatural creature himself.

"What's your name?" Sydney asked in a low tone and tried to keep her urge to growl at bay.

"Charlie." The girl nodded. Charlie, well, Sydney wasn't about to drop her guard against this Charlie, even if she did have golden eyes. It was always the innocent ones who she had to watch out for. "And you?"

"Sydney, Sydney Vance." Sydney responded and stole another glance at the forms that she had been given to fill out.

She wasn't sure that the doctor was going to be able to figure out what was wrong with her, it seemed that during the day she was much less prone to her intolerable symptoms, aside from the nausea anyways. There were no cold sweats, no nightmares obviously, and she rarely shook unless she had been sitting still for too long. Anything that would suggest there was much wrong with her at all only seemed to happen to her at night.

"Vance, that sounds familiar." Charlie mulled over her name and smiled brightly at Sydney. "Are you from around here?"

"I grew up here." Sydney answered, trying to keep it vague but giving the girl enough of an answer to satisfy her.

"Did you become an alpha here?"

Sydney clenched her jaw at the question and slowly shook her head no, "California actually. I have people there."

"Like your pack?" Charlie leaned forward and lowered her voice. Sydney wondered if she was fearful of another werewolf hearing them from somewhere else in the building.

"No." Sydney shook her head again. "Most of my pack is here."

"Right, Ethan mentioned you."

Sydney hadn't been aware that Ethan was conversing with a young woman, then again, the more she thought about it, the more she wasn't surprised, especially considering this young woman was a werewolf. The twins easily could've run into Charlie on their way to Sydney's grandparents' house, maybe there was no reason to worry, not until she knew more.

"Where's your pack?" Sydney questioned, her tone matching Charlie's.

"Oh, well, here's the thing, I uh, I don't really have one at the moment-"

"Omega?" Sydney cut her off with a growl. "What happened to your pack?"

Sydney leaned even closer to the glass, trying to intimidate the girl residing at the desk. Charlie barely flinched though and when Sydney made a move to touch the glass with her hand, she saw it glimmer, forcing a small shock through her system.

"Look, I don't want any trouble." Charlie pleaded. "My dad said that there's something in the glass that will protect me from enemies, I can't remember what he said it was…"

"Mountain ash?" Sydney threw the words out and shook her head, letting out a low growl of frustration. "Is your entire office surrounded by mountain ash?"

"Huh, that sounds about right." Charlie nodded to herself with a pleased look on her face. "Anyways, you asked about my pack, well I'm currently an omega, just like you said, but that doesn't mean I'm weak or defenseless."

Sydney nodded her understanding. It wasn't worth fighting with this girl, not here, not now. Until Charlie gave her a reason to go after her, maybe Sydney could use her. She could befriend this young wolf, create an alliance with her. If Charlie was even half as good as the twins, then Sydney had just locked her sights in on a potentially valuable pack member.

"Sorry." Sydney ground the word out. "For-"

"No worries Sydney Vance." Charlie smiled at her. "If you could just take a seat and fill those out, I'll go let the doctor know you're here."

Sydney did as she was instructed and clutched the clipboard in her hand while she scooped up the pen with the other. Glancing around the waiting room, Sydney locked her eyes on a seat tucked away in the corner, not like she needed the privacy, there were no other patients around, but that didn't mean she'd be the only one for the rest of her stay.

Sitting down, she made a mental note that Charlie had disappeared from behind the desk. With a lame attempt to get comfortable in the hard, metal chair, Sydney settled in and scanned her eyes over the forms. Sure she had never been to a real doctor's before but it didn't take a genius to figure out that these were unique forms, most likely meant for the supernatural.

Without putting it off any longer, Sydney began to answer the questions laid out in front of her.

She hadn't even had time to finish the last page before Charlie called out to her, the girl back behind the desk. When the doorway near the window opened up, Sydney locked her eyes on the older man standing there in a white lab coat, black dress pants and a nice dress shirt on underneath it.

"Come on into the back." The man welcomed her cheerfully and Sydney cautiously made her way to her feet, holding the pen and clipboard in one hand as she headed towards the doctor, following him down a narrow hallway, cupboards and shelves adoring each wall.

When the man waved her into what Sydney could only assume was an examination room, she felt her body tense. It wouldn't take too much for this man to hurt her, to kill her even, and it wasn't like the twins would be able to get past the mountain ash barrier, so what had she been thinking, agreeing to meet with a complete stranger. Maybe all she needed was stronger sleeping pills and something better than vodka.

"I should maybe just go." Sydney managed to get the words out but the man had pulled the door almost all the way closed, leaving it open only a few inches. She took her bottom lip in between her teeth and remained absolutely still, gauging this man's threat level.

"Relax; I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Doctor Steve; you're Sydney Vance, correct?"

"Uh, yes." Sydney nodded and clutched the pen in her fist, trying to fight back the wolf inside of her that was trying to get out now.

"I knew your father."

Her heart picked up in pace and her eyes widened in shock. This man, this 'Doctor Steve' was claiming to know her father? Was there any sort of proof? Had this man played a part in her father's life after he had been bitten? Did this man know her mother too?

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Your father, Mason Vance, he is your father, right?" Doctor Steve asked, tilting his head to the side. He waved at the examination table and Sydney didn't know what other choice she had, especially not if she was going to get information on how this man knew her father.

"He was."

"He was?" The doctor was unrelenting with the questions and Sydney sucked in a breath before hauling her butt up onto the edge of the table.

"He um, well he died about fifteen years ago." Sydney said softly and bowed her head. "He and my mom were attacked in their home."

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry to hear that. He was a good man, a really good man."

A silence fell over them and Sydney set her hands on the edge of the table, gripping tightly. It had been a while since she had been able to talk about her parents, and now she was sitting in the office of a man who had known her father but hadn't known that he had been dead and gone for nearly fifteen years.

"I grew up with your dad; we played on the high school football team together." Steve cut in and took a step towards her, cautiously lifting his hand up and resting it gently against her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"Football." Sydney echoed the word. "He played football?"

"Oh yeah, damn good player too."

Sydney forced a smile onto her face and straightened up on the table, even relaxing her grip slightly. Steve lowered himself onto a nearby stool, complete with wheels, before taking hold of her almost filled out forms and sliding across the tiled floor to come to a stop in front of a computer screen. She kicked her legs out and watched as the man began entering her information into the computer.

"So Charlie's your daughter?" Sydney asked softly and Steve gave a nod of his head, too focused on the screen to actually use his voice. "Was she born or bitten?"

"Bitten."

"May I ask who bit her?"

"You can, but they're long gone by now. They did it as a favour to me, see her and her mother were in a car accident when she was just learning to walk. It was too late for her mother but not for her."

"So you got this alpha to bite your daughter in order to keep her alive?" Sydney asked, more for confirmation than anything.

"Yes, I help out a lot of creatures in the area, in return they protect me, not that I need it."

"Yeah, you're entire building's mountain ash, right?"

"It sure is. A friend of mine gave me the idea."

"A friend?" Sydney narrowed her eyes on the back of Steve's head.

"Yeah, he's got a vet clinic in California-"

"Deaton?" Sydney asked, cutting him off effectively.

Steve paused in his typing and glanced back at her, tossing a smile in her direction. Sydney shook her head but remained calm. Seconds later, Steve resumed his work on the computer, letting Sydney sit in silence behind him.

"My daughter lost her pack not too long ago, they were taken out by hunters and she was the only one who managed to get away. I figured that I needed to step up and protect her, hence the mountain ash."

"Hunters are here? In Colorado?" Sydney asked him softly.

"My inside information was that they were just passing through but they targeted her pack. Apparently her alpha, not the one that bit her, had quite the reputation. I've only heard rumours but everyone thinks they've moved on." Steve explained. "Plus there was a big uproar about some sort of hit list, any of my known hunter contacts were too busy dealing with that to be concerned over my daughter and her omega status."

"Let me ask you something." Sydney instructed and Steve turned right around on his stool, looking directly at her. "Ever heard of the Hales?"

Steve's eyes widened slightly at the mention and he carefully nodded his head yes.

"I've heard of them, don't know much about them. One of them was an alpha, that's basically all I know, and I was seriously considering contacting him about my daughter. I think I overheard his name was Derek."

"Derek Hale would've been a terrible choice for alpha." Sydney found herself smiling slightly for the first time in days. "He's my best friend and not a very good leader. You saved your daughter a lot of trouble by not getting her involved with him and his pack."

"Okay well, who's your alpha then? I know this might sound like I'm being too forward but Charlie can't be an omega for the rest of her life. It's way too dangerous for that."

"I'm the alpha." Sydney nodded. "Maybe we can work something out. I could use another pack member."

"And also an examination?" Steve teased and waved around the room, implying that she was in the doctor's office for a reason. "Why don't we start with you telling me what's going on then?"

Sydney sucked in a breath and crossed her arms over her chest, trying to remain calm. She didn't know what was going on with her and she wasn't sure that this man would be able to tell her either. Being sick was terrifying and it had easily reminded her of the times where she hadn't been healing because of the nogitsune.

"Well okay, I guess, at night I have these awful nightmares, I wake up from them and I'm just so cold, like my bones feel like ice and I shiver so bad too."

"Okay, well, first question I have for you then, do you have a mate?"

"Yeah, uh I do." Sydney nodded. "Is that what this is?"

"Well hang on; is he with you here in Colorado?"

"No." She said softly, sadness lacing her tone. "He's in California."

"So he's not with you then? Ever?"

"Recently he was taken into custody." Sydney answered without getting into too many details.

"So you've been separated from him then? For how long?"

"A few weeks or so." Sydney answered.

"Have you been through a heat cycle since you've been mated?"

"Yeah, just once though."

"Right, okay." Steve hummed. "Are there any other symptoms that you've been experiencing aside from the nightmares and chills?"

Sydney took her bottom lip between her teeth and let out a small sigh, "I've been throwing up a lot lately."

Steve took her words to heart and contemplated his next move. It wasn't anything entirely new to him, he had seen how mates react when forced apart and it wasn't pretty. Sydney seemed to be in the early stages of withdrawal and if he left her untreated for too much longer, he knew it'd be nearly impossible to bring her back.

"Here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to send you for a blood test, you can do it anytime but the sooner the better, and I'll have Charlie set up a follow up appointment so that I can go over the results with you."

"Wait, a blood test? What for?" Sydney drummed her fingers against her arm.

"I want to cover all of my bases here, right now I'm thinking that you're going through withdrawal, mates don't do well without the other nearby, but I want to make sure that it's not something more serious before we go any further."

"What would be 'more serious'?" She widened her eyes at him, even bringing out her alpha reds. She knew she was edgier without Peter around but lately she had been noticing that she was getting angrier quicker.

"Well there are a number of things a blood test can tell us; it might be a simple vitamin deficiency, maybe an underlying mental issue. We also check to see if there's a chance you may be pregnant."

"There's not." Sydney shot back but her façade faltered. "Is there?"

"Anything's possible; we just want to make sure." Steve said calmly.

"Okay." She breathed the word out. "Well, what happens if I am pregnant?"

"We start you on our expectant mother's program, as well as discuss other available options." Steve answered and flashed her a reassuring smile. "Remember, the sooner you get the blood drawn, the faster we can get the results."

"Okay so what if I went and did it right now?"

"I can have Charlie request a rush on the tests, I'm sure we can fit you in tomorrow. How's that work?"

Sydney clamped her jaw shut and tried to wrap her head around what the doctor had just said. Withdrawal, yes, that part made sense, she hadn't known how she would be without Peter but she did know that it wasn't going to be easy, but pregnant, no, they had been careful, he had turned her down while she was in heat, there was just no way it was possible.

But then Steve had said anything was possible.

With one final forced smile in his direction, she took hold of the blood test request sheet and dropped her feet down to the floor. The doctor ushered her out of the room and back down the hall, letting her back into the waiting room where a card was waiting for her on the edge of the desk. Charlie looked up at her and smiled while Steve leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"Does the same time tomorrow work for you?" Charlie questioned once her father had wandered away.

"Yeah, that's fine." Sydney said quietly and clutched the sheet of paper in her hand. Charlie pulled the card back and scribbled the time of her appointment on the back of it before sliding it back out towards Sydney. "Thanks."

"No problem, I'll see you tomorrow." Charlie waved at her and without looking back; Sydney made a move towards the door.

As soon as she was back outside in the parking lot and standing right beside her car, she collapsed against it, letting out a growl of frustration.

No matter how far away from Peter that she tried to get, he'd apparently still have a hold on her. Now all she had to do was pray that she wasn't pregnant.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney hadn't been scared of the actual blood tests, nor was she afraid of getting her blood drawn, what she was terrified of was what the results would say. Certainly she'd know if there was something like a pregnancy going on with her body, wouldn't she? Wasn't that part of being a mother, the maternal instincts would kick in?

As much as the idea of motherhood didn't scare her as much as it used to, that didn't mean she was prepared to be a mom, not at all and especially not now that things had gone south. She didn't have Peter with her and she didn't know that she ever would.

He had promised her that he'd get out of Eichen House and maybe one day that'd actually happen but she knew that he had hurt a lot of people, his trip to the insane asylum was completely warranted and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. The idea of raising a baby alone, if she was actually pregnant, did cross her mind but then again so did other options.

Doctor Steve had said that they could discuss other available options and it didn't take a genius to figure out that he meant adoption or abortion, things like that. Adoption, sure that was possible but Sydney didn't know if she could do that to a child, nor could she do that to Peter. He had already lost out on Malia's life because of adoption; she figured he wouldn't really approve of losing out on another child's life. Abortion was lingering in her mind, maybe getting rid of it before anyone else knew was the best way to go but then again, Sydney wasn't entirely sure she could handle keeping the secret and it wouldn't take much for Peter to see, all he'd need to do would be to get his claws into her neck and dig up the memory from her mind.

Well, that is if he ever got out of Eichen House.

On her way back to the house after sticking around the building to get her blood drawn, she had stopped at the grocery store and nabbed a few groceries for dinner, as well as a pregnancy test. Sydney didn't know if she could wait until the next day at the doctor's to find out for sure and what did she have to lose, if it said positive then they'd confirm it the next day, if it said negative, well maybe she'd be able to get even just a few hours of decent sleep that night.

Her heart hadn't stopped pounding since she left the medical building and even when she pulled into her own driveway, she still felt it hammering against her chest. Sucking in a deep breath and holding it, Sydney tried to calm down, surely Ethan and Aidan would be able to pick up on her erratic heartbeat, they weren't oblivious, and talking to them about what was potentially going on wasn't really something she wanted to do just yet.

After sitting in the car for a few minutes, she felt her heartbeat slow down just enough so that she could play it off as simple excitement at being home. Climbing out of the car, Sydney wandered around to the passenger side and popped the door open, gathering up the few bags of groceries but pulling the pregnancy test out and slipping it into her jacket pocket. She didn't want the twins finding it by accident, not until she knew for sure.

Kicking the door shut with her foot, Sydney quickly made her way to the front door and pushed it open, stepping inside and heading right for the kitchen. The twins had a nice set up at the kitchen table, each of them with a laptop as well as a few old books open and Sydney knew immediately what they were doing.

She had taken it upon herself to familiarize herself with as much of the supernatural world as she could while she was no longer in the thick of things. She had brought the twins on to help her as she created her own little personal bestiary, which was an ongoing project. It involved spending days flipping through books and webpages searching for information on the various supernatural creatures that she was already aware of, as well as looking into other creatures that she wasn't entirely familiar with.

"We ordered an old mythology book today." Ethan announced, not even bothering to peel his eyes off the screen. Sydney wandered towards the fridge and set the bags of food on the counter nearby.

"Did you find anything more on werejaguars?" Sydney asked him, knowing full well that there wasn't a ton of information out there that they had been able to find on whatever the hell Kate Argent was.

"No but we got a ton more information on phoenixes." Aidan piped up and waved Sydney over.

She hesitated and set her hands on her hips, feeling the pregnancy test box brush against her wrist as she slowly made her way over to the table and took up a stance between the two twins. Her eyes fell down onto Aidan's laptop screen and she scanned over the pages and pages of information that he had copied and pasted from the internet. Now all he had to do was clean it up and organize it.

"Good, that's awesome." Sydney remarked and moved away from him, heading back over to her groceries residing on the counter.

She made quick work of putting all the groceries away before making a move to the hallway in silence. There were a lot of things weighing heavily on her mind and taking the test was the heaviest of all. Ethan tore his eyes off his laptop and looked at her, Sydney tossing him a smile.

"You okay?" He asked and tilted his head to the side. "How'd the doctor's go?"

Sydney stopped and leaned her back against the kitchen wall, "good I guess. I have to go back tomorrow to go over the results of my blood test."

"Blood test?" Aidan joined the conversation and looked at her too.

"Yeah, he thinks it's just withdrawal from being away from my mate but he wants to make sure." Sydney was quick to answer. "Anyways, I'm going to go have a shower and then I'll make dinner, how's that sound?"

"Sounds awesome!" Aidan grinned and immediately went back to work, Ethan flashing her a similar grin and following his brother's lead.

Sydney walked out of the kitchen and jogged up the stairs, heading right for her room. She bypassed her half made bed and continued right on through to the adjoining bathroom, peeling off her jacket as she entered. Pausing only to shut and lock the door behind her, Sydney fumbled to get the box back out of her pocket and when she did, she ripped the end open and dumped the contents onto the counter, fighting off the growl she could feel growing in her gut.

This wasn't supposed to be something she would ever do yet here she was, getting ready to pee on a stick. With a quick read of the instructions, Sydney set to it and did exactly what it said to do. Once the pee stick was safely tucked under a washcloth on the counter, she stripped off her clothes and climbed into the bathtub, letting the water run out of the faucet before pulling the lever for a shower.

There was no washing involved, no suds on her body, no, Sydney merely stood under the scalding hot shower spray and let the water warm up her body. She let her mind drift to the past few nights where she had woken up from a terrifying night terror only to be consumed by the cold. She felt her muscles relaxing under the hot spray and once she was almost too hot to take it, she turned the water off and stood in the shower, air drying slightly.

Reaching out and taking hold of her fluffy blue towel, she wrapped it around herself and let her wet hair hang loose. Gathering it up at the side of her head, she pushed her hair behind her shoulder and sucked in a breath, hoping that the pregnancy test read negative. Holding her breath, Sydney reached her hand out and gently took hold of the stick between her index finger and thumb, her eyes going right to the spot on the side where a little plus sign could easily be seen.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit." She mumbled to herself and sat down on the edge of the tub, her eyes still locked on the plus sign. "What am I supposed to do?"

Dropping her head into her hands, she let out a low growl and considered her options once again. There was still a slight possibility of a false positive but Sydney knew she wasn't going to be that lucky.

In a time when her life was falling apart minute by minute, it was only logical that things would be getting worse.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _So...what do you guys think?_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 2:**_

The same time the next day, Sydney wandered into the doctor's office with the reality hanging on her shoulders that there was a baby growing inside of her. There was a tiny little chance that the test had been wrong but she knew in her gut that it wasn't. Sure the doctor had said withdrawal from her mate was most likely the reason as to why she was waking up in the middle of the night, if she could get to sleep at all, but it hardly explained the nausea and the throwing up.

Sydney wasn't stupid and she wasn't going to deny it any more. Chances were good that she was going to have a baby.

Adoption wasn't an option and after a long night of tossing and turning, yet again, she had concluded that there was no way she could abort a baby, at least not until Peter knew, and that was just a whole other can of worms that Sydney didn't even want to think about opening.

She knew she'd have to go back to Beacon Hills sooner rather than later but even if she did, she was pretty sure visitors weren't allowed in Eichen House and especially not in the ward that Peter was being kept in, which meant that she had to be careful when she headed back and who she'd have to come in contact with.

Stiles and the sheriff would be easy to fool, they couldn't smell her, or hear her heartbeat; to them she was just another regular woman. It was Derek, Scott, even Liam who she was worried about. Surely Derek would pick up on something off about her, especially the later in the pregnancy that she was. She knew that her scent would start to change if it hadn't already, and Derek knew her well enough to realize that she smelled different than she used to. Scott would be able to pick up on the subtle changes too and maybe she'd be able to fool Liam but she figured that he'd eventually realize something was different too.

Charlie met her at the door to the hallway, Steve standing just inside it, holding it open. Being the only human, or at least non-werewolf, Sydney figured he was the only one able to open the door for the supernatural. It really was a good defense and he clearly had Charlie protected rather well.

Sydney took in a nervous breath and followed Steve back into the same examination room she had been set up in before. He motioned to the table and Sydney easily took a seat but when Charlie came in and shut the door behind her, Sydney cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"I think we should talk first." Charlie said softly and Sydney nodded for her to continue. "I know this might seem a little pushy but I was wondering if you'd be willing to accept me into your pack?"

Sydney considered her words for a few seconds before directing her attention towards Steve.

"We talked about this last night and I think maybe we've come up with a viable compromise." Steve added quickly. "You're clearly going through withdrawal and that's best case scenario. There's maybe something more going on and we were thinking that if you accepted Charlie here into your pack, then she could provide you with an added layer of protection, not to mention the easy access to me and my services."

"You and your services?" Sydney repeated his last words. "If I don't accept her, are you going to stop treating me?"

"No, no of course not, nothing like that, but with Charlie in your pack you'd have all hours access to me and my office."

"Right." Sydney nodded. "So theoretically, if I accept her into my pack and then end up hurt at four in the morning, we get to contact you and you'll take care of it?"

"Absolutely, no questions asked. All I want from you is a guarantee that you're not in any weird feuds with other packs. I don't want my daughter to become a soldier." Steve explained smoothly.

"Well at this current time, I'm only really in a feud with one person that you should probably be aware of: Kate Argent, she's a werejaguar and I will kill her if I see her." Sydney stated. "That being said, I wouldn't force Charlie into anything she doesn't want to do, I did notice the golden eyes after all."

"Actually that brings me to our next concern, who did you kill to become an alpha?" Charlie piped up and stared at Sydney, trying to gauge whether or not she was to be trusted.

"Ennis, do you know him?" Sydney asked with a glare.

"I heard the rumours, bad guy right?" Charlie countered.

"Well he certainly wasn't good." Sydney scoffed. "I have a solid friendship with Derek Hale, I've helped out Satomi's pack in the past, if you need references on my-"

"I know what type of person your father was, I know the type of people that your grandparents were and if you're anything like them, I know this is the right choice for Charlie." Steve cut her off and Sydney felt her heart swelling at the mentioning of her father. "If you're friends with Derek Hale, that's a point in your favour."

"What else do you know about the Hales?" Sydney asked hesitantly, hoping that Peter hadn't managed to screw this up for her too.

"Just that the family was well respected and most of them perished in a fire." Charlie threw out. "Why?"

"Well, I uh mean, specifically have you heard anything on Peter Hale?"

"That he's a little on the crazy side." Charlie shrugged. "But aren't we all?"

"Okay." Sydney nodded. "Good to know."

"Why?" Steve broke in. "Is there something we should know?"

Sydney nodded her head yes yet again and looked at the two of them, trying to figure out how best to word what it was she was going to say. If Charlie was going to be a beta in her pack, she was eventually going to find out that Peter was technically her beta too, but he was also her mate.

"He's my mate." Sydney said bluntly, hoping that it would be best to just get it over with.

"He's your mate. Oh, well, that's…good to know." Steve droned. "Is he also an alpha?"

"No, he's just a beta; at least he was when I left him in Eichen House." Sydney explained. "Who knows at this point in time."

"What's Eichen House?" Charlie questioned.

"A nuthouse." Sydney answered. "He killed a whole bunch of people who were involved in the Hale house fire and most recently he tried to kill Beacon Hills' true alpha, I just figured you should know what you're getting into if you still decide you want to join my pack."

Steve lifted his finger up and silently asked for one minute. He then guided Charlie out of the room and let the door drift shut behind them. Sydney crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the ceiling, not really sure what she was hoping for.

On one hand, she kind of liked the idea of Charlie being in her pack and providing her with a female presence, not to mention the all hours access to Doctor Steve. On the other hand, she didn't know the girl, there was no reason to trust her, or not to trust, her, but it definitely couldn't hurt to have a larger, stronger pack, right?

Less than five minutes later, Steve and Charlie entered back into the room and Sydney stared at the two of them. The smile on Charlie's face said it all, she wasn't scared away by the whole Peter being her mate thing, nor did she seem too concerned over his attempts to take out Scott McCall.

"If you'll have me, I think I'd like to try to be part of your pack." Charlie announced and Sydney let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that." Sydney nodded and uncrossed her arms, extending her one hand out to Charlie. The young beta bypassed her offer of a handshake altogether and went right in for a hug, bringing Sydney against her chest and embracing her in a friendly manner. It had been a long time since she had felt another female hug her and boy did she miss it.

When they parted, Sydney couldn't help but smile and Charlie gave her a sweet little wave before wandering out of the examination room, leaving Sydney alone with Doctor Steve. She sucked in a breath and stared at him as he opened up a cupboard on the wall and pulled out her results, setting them on the examination table next to Sydney.

"I didn't get a chance to get right into the results but I got far enough into them to conclude that there isn't anything physically wrong with you and that you're definitely going through withdrawal." Steve started and Sydney nodded her understanding.

"So I'm healthy?"

"Yes, basically. There is an abnormality in one of your hormone levels though and at this point in time I'm going to have to inform you that you are, in fact, pregnant. We can schedule an ultrasound and further tests to figure out how far along you are and then go ahead and discuss all of the options."

"There are no options." Sydney said sadly. "I'm not getting rid of it, no matter what."

"That's good to hear." Steve smiled at her and Sydney couldn't help but force a matching smile onto her face. "I'll get Charlie to write you out a list of all the prenatal vitamins that you're going to need and we can schedule you that ultrasound. I'd like to see you back in my office shortly after that for a full physical and a pelvic examination."

"Oh god." Sydney groaned and threw her head back, trying to keep herself from crying. As if things couldn't have gotten any worse. "Okay then."

"As for your withdrawal, there's not much I can do for you without harming the baby so I'm going to suggest hot baths before bed to relax you, physical activity to keep you busy and also to tire out your body, but not too much. Anything that will keep you calm will be a great help."

"Right, got it."

"Now I have to ask just to make sure, but there's absolutely no way you can get near your mate?"

"Not without breaking and entering." Sydney stated. "Would being in the same city help?"

"It might but it could also make the withdrawal worse. If you're close enough for your body to sense his presence, it'll just become overwhelming; at least if you're not in the same city, then your body won't be fighting to get near him."

"Sure." Sydney nodded. "So what happens next?"

"We book you in for an ultrasound, there's not much more I can do until we know how far along you are. After that, it's just a waiting game. You can use the time to get to know Charlie; she's pretty good at keeping people distracted." Steve continued to smile at Sydney. "And I'll be available any time you need me."

"Okay." She murmured and dropped her feet down to the floor. "Thanks."

Steve gave her an encouraging nod and Sydney slowly made her way out of the room. She wandered down the hall but waited halfway to the door for Steve to bypass her. He pulled the door open for her and let her walk back out in the waiting room where Sydney made a beeline for the window.

Charlie's bright smile was directed right at her and Sydney couldn't help but chuckle. In one day she had made a new addition to her pack as well as found out that she'd have to actually step up and be a responsible adult, her baby was going to need her. With the idea of motherhood taking over every single thought, she found herself reminiscing about the few days where she had looked after Samantha. With a mental note to look into the little girl's past, Sydney lifted her hands up and rested them on the counter in front of the window.

"Looks like I can get you in for an ultrasound at the beginning of next week, how's nine in the morning sound?" Charlie offered and Sydney simply nodded her head yes, not entirely trusting her voice at this point. "Follow up appointment with my dad the same day or…"

"Yes, same day's fine." Sydney sighed. "We should do lunch or something sometime, maybe you and your dad would like to come over for dinner even?"

"Oh god, you don't understand how amazing a home cooked meal would be, I haven't had one of those in forever." Charlie chuckled and handed Sydney a slip of paper with her appointment times on it, a small, easy map to the ultrasound center had been printed on the back of it.

"Okay, how about Friday?" Sydney offered.

"Yeah, Friday's good."

"Say, six? I can give you my address, and actually my two betas that aren't in the nuthouse will be there so you can meet them too, officially."

"Okay, yeah." Charlie grinned up at Sydney and handed the girl a pen and a post it note. Sydney quickly scribbled her address down as well as the day and time before slipping it all back under the window to Charlie. "Congratulations too, you must be so excited."

"Excited?" Sydney stared at her as though she was crazy.

"Yeah, for your baby." Charlie nodded, still grinning.

Sydney felt her jaw clenching so instead of replying with her words, she forced a smile onto her lips and gave a firm nod of her head.

Without another word shared between the two girls, Sydney turned towards the door and wandered away, wondering how the hell she was going to deal with everything now.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Stepping into the house after leaving the doctor's office, Sydney wasn't entirely sure how she was feeling about the whole situation. On one hand, the idea of having a baby wasn't so scary and maybe Sydney was coming to terms with the idea of raising a child, specifically a little girl, yes definitely a little girl. She knew that she wasn't guaranteed a baby girl by any means and if it turned out to be a little boy, she'd love him just as much but there was a certain appeal that came with raising a daughter that she couldn't deny.

Maybe she'd get exactly what she wanted; maybe she would have a little girl and raise her like her mother had for the first ten years of her life. Sydney knew that she'd be a better mother than her grandma, she'd be warm and kind, loving and understanding, she'd teach her little girl everything she knew; like how to cook. Come the full moons, she'd work away at helping her child learn to control the shift, unless, was it possible that she wouldn't even have a werewolf?

Peter had a tendency to create supernatural creatures that weren't werewolves, did that mean that her baby, boy or girl, could potentially be something completely different, something she was unfamiliar with. His track record included a true alpha, a banshee, a werejaguar and a werecoyote, what was Sydney supposed to do if her baby was anything other than a werewolf?

Peeling her coat off of her shoulders, she let out a low breath, trying to remain calm and not freak out over that possibility. She still had months to go until her baby was in her arms, which meant that she had plenty of time to prepare herself for whatever it was going to be.

"Guys I'm home!" She called out to the house and yanked the front closet doors open, pulling out a hanger and hanging her coat up. She tuned her ears in and listened for their reply but none came. She took a deep inhale of the air and shook her head at the twins, neither one was actually in the house at all, if her senses were right, then the two of them were out in the backyard.

Sydney let out a sigh and headed for the back door, leaving her boots on her feet so as not to get her socks or skin dirty. She twisted the knob on the backdoor once she was within distance and she pushed the door open, stepping out onto the back patio before breaking out into a jog and heading right for the pair of wrestling werewolves on the grass.

Letting out a squeal of excitement, she bared her teeth and let out a roar, catching their attention before lunging at them both, her limbs tangling with theirs as they continued to try to bring the other down.

The air filled with Sydney's laughter as she brought Ethan to his back before focusing all of her attention on Aidan, wrapping her arms around his neck and putting him in a chokehold before lowering her head down next to his ear.

"Say 'uncle'." Sydney growled and pushed her foot against the back of his knee, his body immediately collapsing against the ground. She tightened her grip on his neck and laughed as Aidan reached up with his hands, grasping for her arm.

She let out a snarl as his claws ripped into her flesh, blood trickling out of the shallow wounds, but his grip never faltered. She jerked his body backwards and twisted her body, flipping him over her hip and letting go of him only as his body sailed through the air, his back colliding with the hard ground below.

Aidan immediately lifted his hands up in surrender and rolled onto his side, making quick work of getting to his feet. Sydney ran her hand over her bleeding forearm and let out a hiss of pain as she did so. Before she knew it, Ethan was at her side, his hand latching onto her wrist as he studied the wounds that Aidan had inflicted.

"They should be healing by now." Ethan murmured more to himself than anyone and Sydney felt her heart pick up in speed. She knew that the sooner she told them about her current predicament, the better off she'd be but to actually utter the words out loud, that in itself terrified her. She didn't want to say that she was pregnant, that made it real, that made it undeniable and she wasn't entirely prepared for that, not yet at least.

"Maybe it's taking longer to heal because of the withdrawal." Sydney forced the words out and mentally scolded herself. She knew they needed to know what was going on, they had to. In order to protect her as best as they could, she'd have to tell them about the baby.

"Oh, does it work that way?" Aidan piped up and took a few steps towards her, looking down at her still bleeding arm as Ethan gently twisted it in his hold.

"I don't know." She shrugged and sucked in a nervous breath.

"I still don't know why you thought being mated to Peter was a good idea." Aidan scoffed and Ethan ran his finger over the puncture wounds, smearing the blood and causing Sydney to hiss in pain.

Sydney leveled her glare on him and ripped her arm out of Ethan's grasp. She was growing tired of everyone asking her why she was with Peter, it wasn't their business, so long as she was happy, that's what should've mattered, right?

But she wasn't happy, not currently, and maybe the twins were starting to see that she wasn't fairing very well without him around. Maybe they saw her current situation as something that was avoidable had she made a better choice when it came to her mate. Maybe Aidan was hiding feelings for her; she wouldn't have been surprised, not after their little flirtation when they had really just met.

"I love him." Sydney ground the words out and brought out her alpha red irises, daring them both to say another word.

"Aidan, stop judging okay, you went after Lydia, remember?" Ethan threw in.

"So, that's not even remotely the same thing." Aidan shot back and Sydney let out a groan.

"Enough you two." Sydney said softly and planted her hands on her hip, shuddering at the slight tickle on her arm from the blood running over her skin. "It doesn't matter anyways okay, Peter's my mate and that's not going to change, plus even if I didn't want him as my mate anymore, I don't know how to break the bond anyways."

Ethan nodded his understanding but Aidan merely stared at her, his eyes widening and a mischievous grin toying on his lips. Sydney shook her head at him and made a move to head back into the house but Aidan reached his hand out, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"But what if there _was_ a way to break the mate bond, would you consider it?" Aidan asked her and Sydney's body tensed at his question.

Would she consider breaking the mate bond with Peter if there _was_ a way to break it? Well she wasn't entirely sure. She _was_ tired, exhausted even from not being able to sleep and waking up in the middle of the night from the terrifying nightmares was something she would love to live without but she did love Peter, she always would, plus now there was the added complication of being pregnant, with his child.

"What are you talking about?" Sydney shot back after a few seconds of contemplation.

"What if there is someone who knew how to break mate bonds out there?"

"There's not." Sydney scoffed and glanced to Ethan, who was staring at Aidan intently.

"What if there is though? I think Deucalion might know a thing or two about this sort of thing." Aidan pointed out and Sydney rolled her eyes at him.

Deucalion, sure, maybe he did know something, she didn't doubt that he was a very knowledgeable person, but the last time she had seen the man was in the distillery when she had offered him a place in her pack. Hell, Sydney would be surprised if he even came near her knowing that her pack consisted of his two former alpha pack members and Peter, who was still in Eichen House, at least as far as she knew.

"It doesn't matter okay." Sydney shook her head and dropped her gaze to the grass. "I don't want to break the bond."

"But why not, you're sick right?" Ethan piped up from beside her and set his palm on her shoulder in a comforting manner. "Maybe you don't have to break it but maybe there's also a way to weaken it so that you don't have to suffer as bad."

"No." She barked and both twins remained silent. They knew when to argue with her and lately she had been getting especially snippy, neither male was prepared to question her any further at this point for fear that she'd lose control. "I'm not breaking any bond with anyone."

"Okay." Ethan bowed his head. "We were just trying to help you."

"Well you can't help me, not now anyways." She turned her head and looked at the back of her house, more questions filling her head. Would she move to Beacon Hills and raise her baby there, which would mean she'd have to find somewhere bigger than Peter's one bedroom apartment, or would she just stay in Colorado, raise her child where she was raised and have her pack nearby?

"What do you mean we can't help you?" Aidan leveled his gaze on her. "Every night one of us lays with you after you wake up from one of your stupid nightmares and we take away as much pain as we can, I think we can help you-"

"I'm pregnant." Sydney cut him off, her voice low and laced with venom. "Okay, there, I am pregnant and I don't want to 'try' to break the bond because I don't know what it'll to do me or the baby, so if you're all happy now, maybe we can just drop this."

Aidan and Ethan both stared at her, dumbfounded expressions on their faces. She shied away from their gazes and lowered herself to the ground, taking a seat on the grass. Before she knew what was happening, both of the twins were sitting on the ground next to her, Ethan resting his palm on her shoulder while Aidan took hold of her hand, the one attached to her injured arm, and started drawing out her pain, hoping that her puncture wounds would heal faster.

"That's what the blood test was for then, wasn't it?" Ethan asked softly and Sydney relaxed against him, snuggling up against his chest.

"Yeah, and I have an ultrasound early next week." Sydney replied, her voice equally as soft.

"Oh Syd, I'm sorry that I pushed the issue." Ethan cooed and ran his hand up and down her back in a soothing manner. She let out a small sigh and glanced up at him.

"I'm scared." She murmured.

"Of what because if you need someone to go with you to the ultrasound-"

"Of everything." She cut Aidan off and glanced over at him too. "I'm going to have a baby; I never wanted a baby, what am I supposed to do, especially with Peter locked away in an insane asylum?"

"Well you're not alone; you've got me and Ethan." Aidan stated.

"And Charlie." Sydney added in a hushed whisper.

"Charlie, the doctor's kid?" Aidan's eyes widened at her remark. "What do you mean you've got Charlie?"

Sydney readjusted herself in Ethan's hold and looked down at her feet, almost hoping that she'd just disappear, that maybe this was one of her awful nightmares and that she'd wake up any second now. She poked at the injuries on her arm and flinched, reassuring herself that this was, indeed, real.

"I may have told her that she could join my pack. Her and her dad are coming for dinner Friday night." Sydney explained softly, afraid of the backlash she'd receive from the twins.

Neither boy said a word though, Ethan just held her tighter while Aidan's lips slowly turned up into a smile. Sydney let out a soft sigh and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her body relaxing.

"I don't mind Charlie; I think she'd make a great pack mate." Aidan smiled and Sydney gave him a small nod.

"You're not mad?" Sydney squeaked and Ethan pressed a reassuring kiss against the top of her head.

"How can we be mad at you? You gave us an opportunity when no one else wanted to, you gave us a home, no matter what you do, you will _always_ have our loyalty, even if you are mated to Peter." Ethan said, his tone soft. "We can never thank you enough for what you did."

Sydney nodded her head in understanding and carefully peeled herself away from Ethan, slowly making her way to her feet. She brushed the stray pieces of grass off her bum and gave the boys a hand as she hauled them up with her.

"Let's get your arm cleaned up." Ethan offered and gently pressed his palm against her lower back, ushering her towards the house.

"And I'll go make a list for dinner, how's lasagna sound?" Aidan added.

"Yeah, sounds good." Sydney nodded. "Thank you."

"It's no problem." Ethan murmured and together, the three of them made their way into their home.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 **Author's Note:**

 **Charlie isn't one of my own characters, she was borrowed from poorxbrokexcollegexkid so a special thank you goes out to her for providing her with a very needed female presence in Sydney's life!**

 **Officially Sydney is pregnant! How's that make you guys feel? What are you hoping happens, boy, girl, any thoughts at all?**

 **How do you guys feel about her pack, do you like the fact that she's got the twins and potentially a new beta in Charlie?**

 **Thank you a billion times over to those that reviewed (WickedlyMinx, poorxbrokexcollegexkid, Ardensteele, Xhex1, Harlie-LOTR-4evre, KeepItReelCool, DeVilDahling, sarahmichellegellarfan1, Amelia Mikaelhey, RoxyNoName)! And thank you to all of those who added this story to their favourites and alerts!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 3** **:**_

"Aidan! Can you come here?" Sydney shouted from her place on the couch. She had been thinking about what she wanted to do about the whole situation since Doctor Steve had confirmed that she was, in fact, pregnant and in her head, what she was going to ask of Aidan was simply step one.

She had the betas in her pack and there was no doubt in her mind that they were loyal to her, but she also knew that she was going to have to start practicing honing her own alpha skills and since Ethan and Aidan were both former alphas, she was banking on them to help her, especially now that Peter was stuck in an insane asylum a few states over.

Sydney relaxed into the couch and carefully lay down on her side, burying her face into the decorative pillow nearby. The idea of staying in Colorado was currently flooding through her head and she knew that eventually she'd have to make a decision; she just hoped that maybe one day Peter would become a factor.

It wasn't hard to realize that she was going to end up going through a difficult pregnancy. The nightmares, the sweats while she slept, everything was just getting worse and the doctor had informed her that there wasn't much he could do for her, which meant that she'd have to continue to suffer with the hope that maybe she could figure out a solution on her own, one that would potentially involve Peter being back in her life sooner rather than later.

"Aidan!" She called out again, this time her voice was muffled by the material of the pillow. She squeezed her eyes shut and listened in on the rest of the house.

The twins were upstairs, as was evident by the footsteps she could hear echoing from above her, but they were also speaking to each other, in whispers no less. With a low growl, she sat up, clutching the pillow against her chest as she focused all of her energy on trying to hear what they were saying.

All she managed to make out were a few words that proved to be of no help to her.

"Fuck's sake," Sydney muttered and sucked in a breath, getting ready to yell once again, "Aidan?! Get your ass down here!"

Apparently that was all it took. The footsteps from above became louder, more frantic and part of her wondered if maybe she had scared him, maybe he thought she was in pain or some sort of danger. Both of the twins rushed down the stairs and into the living room, Ethan stopping in the doorway while Aidan continued towards the couch, dropping to his knees in front of her.

"What's wrong?" Aidan asked softly and offered his hand out to her. She threw the pillow to the side, took hold of his hand and hauled herself up off the couch. He looked up at her with wide eyes while she stole a glance at Ethan, who was leaning against the wall not too far away.

"I need your help with something." She answered nonchalantly and pulled on his arm, bringing him to his feet.

Aidan stood in front of her and studied her form, wondering what on earth she could need his help with. In all his time as her beta, Sydney had proven to be a worthy leader. She protected him when the Oni had attacked, she had given him and his brother a home when they had nowhere else to go, she had provided them with support, which they hadn't experienced since before Deucalion had decided to go after Scott McCall.

Overall, Aidan rather enjoyed the idea of Sydney being his alpha.

"Help with what?" Ethan piped up and pushed himself off the wall.

Sydney lifted her finger up, indicating she'd explain in just one second. Without letting go of Aidan's hand, she made her way around the couch and headed for the kitchen, dragging Aidan along behind her. Ethan followed without complaint and when they were all in the kitchen, he took a seat at the table, watching as Sydney moved to stand in front of the counter.

She situated Aidan so that he was standing directly in front of her before letting go of his hands, moving to rest her palms against his shoulders. She could feel his body tensing at how close they were and without warning a shiver coursed up her spine, reminding her that Aidan should never be more than a pack mate.

"I want to practice the whole 'sharing memories' thing." Sydney stated and looked past Aidan to Ethan, who gave her a supportive nod in response. "I think that since we're all here and there's no immediate threat, that we could use the time and perfect some skills."

"Ethan and I wouldn't mind trying to reach our alpha form again." Aidan tossed out.

"You mean your crazy double mint twins morphing thing?" Sydney tilted her head to the side and studied the man in front of her. "That alpha form?"

"Yeah. We were kind of hoping that we could work on being able to do that again, it's kind of weird not being able to." Aidan explained and Sydney took in a deep breath, drumming her fingers against his shoulders.

"I'm not really sure how I can help you guys though; I really have no idea what I'm doing half the time." Sydney confessed and Ethan let out a chuckle from his seat at the table. Sydney immediately glared at him but Ethan couldn't help but grin at her. "What's so funny?"

"We figured out a long time ago that you're not as _experienced_ as someone like Deucalion, or even Peter for that matter, but that doesn't mean you can't help us." Ethan pointed out, the grin never leaving his face. "You backed us up when no one else wanted to, you took a blade for my brother, while Aidan and I are both very aware that you 'really have no idea what you're doing half the time', it doesn't change the fact that we owe you so much."

"Owe me?" Sydney questioned, straightening up her back and moving slightly closer to Aidan, whose hands took up residence on her hips. She gently pulled him towards her, her butt hitting the edge of the counter, before he gripped her flesh gently and lifted her up.

Sydney slid her bum onto the counter and let her legs dangle over the side, not breaking eye contact with Aidan as his hands moved upwards and rested on her sides instead of her hips like they had been seconds ago.

"You're going to have to start looking at yourself as a powerful alpha." Aidan whispered and she narrowed her eyes in on him.

"Talia was a powerful alpha, Deucalion was a powerful alpha, I'm not a powerful alpha." Sydney shook her head in response. "I'm just a girl who approached Deucalion at the right time."

"That maybe true but you shouldn't sell yourself short. You aligned yourself with Peter and managed to get away from him unscathed." Aidan pointed out. Sydney shook her head again and looked down at their feet.

Did Aidan really believe she had gotten away from Peter? Was he thinking that just because she was now in Colorado, that that meant that she wasn't going to eventually try to make peace with the man she was mated too? There was no way she was going to give up on him, and she had gotten away from him far from unscathed.

"I nearly died, more than once, and then he proceeded to let a dark spirit take over my body." Sydney countered and let her thumb move in little circles against the side of Aidan's neck. "Peter had to sacrifice his alpha status in order to keep me from dying, and then he turned his back on me and cozied himself up with Kate. Do you really think I 'got away unscathed'?"

Sydney turned her attention towards Ethan, who was silent at the kitchen table. He took a look at her defeated expression and rose up to his full height, moseying on over towards her and Aidan. Taking up a leaning position against the piece of counter next to her, he leaned sideways and nudged her with her elbow.

"Okay, so maybe not _totally_ unscathed but you're still an alpha, you're still a strong person and you didn't lose sight of yourself." Ethan remarked.

"Except for that short period of time where I was possessed." Sydney argued and turned her head to glare at Ethan. "Look, I think I get what you're saying and maybe it could've been a _lot_ worse, but you can't stand there and tell me that I didn't get hurt, not even a little bit."

"You did, but you're still here, in one piece. There have been so many others who didn't make it out of Beacon Hills alive and I think you should give yourself more credit than you are." Aidan said softly and took his hand away from her side, lifting it up and gently running his fingers through her hair. "When I found out that you and Peter were mated, I can't say that I was all that happy, but you're a pretty intelligent woman, you can take care of yourself and sure, things might look a little bleak at this exact moment but eventually you'll feel better about how things turned out."

"Plus you know how Peter is; don't think he's going to just let himself rot away in Eichen House." Ethan threw in and gave Sydney's thigh a reassuring pat. She let out a growl of frustration but moved her hands around to the back of Aidan's neck, drawing him closer to her.

"Part of me wishes that he was dead." Sydney breathed the words out and Aidan made a move to hug her. She tensed in his hold but relaxed when his arms banded around her middle.

"Why's that?" Ethan asked, genuinely curious as to what she was thinking.

"Well, okay, it might sound stupid but if he was dead, then at least I know him giving up on me wasn't totally his choice. He went along with Kate and her dumb plan and I tried, god I pleaded with him not to go through with it but he chose to push me aside."

"He gave you up." Ethan nodded his head in understanding. "Where as if he had died, it would be as if he didn't have a choice?"

"Basically." She bowed her head and fought off the urge to punch something. "I'm just so mad at him."

"Then maybe you can channel that anger, maybe it can help you be a better alpha?" Aidan suggested and Sydney went rigid in his hold.

Her head snapped up and when she looked at Aidan, he furrowed his brows together at the sight of her blood red alpha eyes staring right back at him. She forced out her claws and twisted her arm so that the tips of her razor sharp talons grazed the back of his neck.

"Do you know how to do this?" She asked in a hushed tone and Aidan gave one quick nod of his head, fearful that her claws would pierce his skin. "Are my claws in the right spot?"

Ethan pushed himself away from the counter and wandered around, his eyes scanning the position of where the tips of her claws were located. He glanced to Sydney's face and felt a swell of pride at the rich red colour of her eyes. Yes, she was an alpha, she was _his_ alpha and there wasn't anything in the world that would give him reason to doubt her when it came to the pack.

"Go for it." Ethan gave her a reassuring nod and Aidan widened his eyes, hoping that she knew what she was doing.

"You've done this before though, right? I mean, can't you accidentally paralyze me?" Aidan stared at her, a worried expression taking over on his face.

"I could accidentally kill you too." She shot back with an emotionless look on her face, which quickly turned into a teasing smile. Aidan dropped his gaze to the floor and sucked in a breath, clearly anxious to find out whether or not Sydney was as capable an alpha as he believed she was.

"Wait!" Aidan cried out and tilted his head back up, looking into her vibrant red eyes. "Is this you going into my memories or-"

"I'm going to try to show you one of my own memories first, if that's okay?" She asked softly, knowing that in order for Aidan to let her go ahead and do this, he was putting a lot of trust in her, more trust than maybe she deserved.

"Uh I guess, so long as there's nothing X-rated between you and Peter." Aidan tossed back.

"Okay, gross, no. There's nothing that will scar you for life or make you want to gouge out your eyeballs, unless I do it wrong…shit, I'll try not to screw up."

"Right, I wouldn't want to be paralyzed, or dead."

"Well that too." Sydney shrugged with a smile and leaned forward slightly. She stared into his eyes and when Ethan's gentle touch came down on her wrist, she mentally counted to three before jamming the tips of her claws into the back of Aidan's neck, his entire body going rigid at the action.

Ethan stared between the two, Sydney's eyes flickering from red to her usual brown while Aidan's eyes struggled to remain open, his lids fluttering up and down the slightest little bit. He continued to watch them, wondering what on earth Sydney could possibly be showing his brother, but he had faith in her, he knew she was right when she said practicing some of their less than stellar skills would be a good thing.

Aidan tried to shudder at the feeling of her invading his head but when her memory started to trickle in, he relaxed ever so slightly, hoping that he'd be okay, that whatever she was going to show him wouldn't change his opinion on her, or Peter for that matter, unless it was for the better.

" _Sydney you're obviously not all right." Peter's voice was all too familiar to him as Aidan watched the scene unfolding in front of him. The background was slightly blurry but he could make out enough to know that wherever Sydney and Peter were in her memory, it was someplace that had once been comfortable to her. Peter's home maybe, wherever that might have been._

" _I'm fine." Sydney argued back and the scene became clearer. He could sense her emotion, her entire body filled with unease._

" _Did Stiles say something to you?" Peter asked her._

" _Besides asking me if I'd take the twins into my pack, not really." Sydney countered right back and Aidan knew immediately why she had chosen this specific memory. She was going to show him how Peter reacted to the idea of her letting the twins into her pack._

" _You're not going to." There was a look of confusion on her face at his words, which came out harsh._

" _It'd only be temporarily, you know until they can convince Scott-"_

" _You're not seriously considering it are you? They tried to kill us!" Peter was nearly furious by this point but Aidan knew that he hadn't seen what she wanted him to see just yet._

" _Well maybe they're different without Deucalion." Sydney had clearly never been one to back down from Peter. She had always been her own person while being with him. It was evident in the way she didn't flinch at his tone, or the way that she didn't cower away simply because he had demanded for her not to do something._

 _Peter scoffed at her and she took a step towards him, stopping before he had the chance to reach out. With her hands planted on her hips, Aidan knew that she wasn't going to just let this go._

" _People don't trust them!" Peter growled and met her stance with one of his own. She didn't budge, hell even her heart didn't pick up in pace._

" _People don't trust you," she pointed out, a devious smirk present on her face, "and I'm mated to you."_

" _Maybe that was a mistake on your part."_

" _Excuse me?" She shot back, her eyes glowing a fierce red from her growing frustration._

" _This relationship-"_

" _This relationship has been one sided from the very beginning and you know that. There is no possible way that I've overlooked that. I'm not some dumb kid who doesn't know what love means okay, I get it and I do love you, I will always love you."_

" _Yet you knew full well what I was, what I'm capable of and you still wanted me?"_

" _You're insanely stupid you know that?" She was clearly losing steam. Apparently all she wanted was for Peter to have a little faith in her, for him to believe her and let her make decisions, such as letting the twins into her pack. Her arms dropped to her sides and she relaxed her stance, "I can't make you love me, hell I don't know that you could ever love me as much as I love you-"_

" _Then why are we here?"_

" _Because I know you care. You do love me, not as much as I'd like but I know that you love me the best way you can. I can't really ask for anything more than that, now can I?" Sydney countered and took a step closer to him._

" _You're infuriating." Peter growled but reached towards her and took hold of her hand, tugging her against him. Sydney laughed at his choice of words and curled up against him._

" _Every time you tell me how infuriating I am, I just pretend it's you saying I love you."_

 _Peter didn't respond to her statement, instead, Aidan watched as he ran his hands up her back, giving her a slight squeeze as he did so. Aidan knew that it had to be hard, loving someone like Peter Hale, yet Sydney had managed to do just that. She had loved him when things were bad, she had loved him when she had been possessed by a dark spirit and there was no doubt in his mind that Sydney loved Peter still, even if she was absolutely furious with him for letting her go._

 _Peter was a lucky guy, he should've considered himself as such, yet the man had traded everything away for a chance at power. If Peter ever showed his face in Colorado, Aidan would rip him apart, limb by limb._

" _I'd like to continue discussing the matter of letting the twins into your pack." Peter's voice pierced Aidan's ears and he was suddenly drawn back into her memory, no longer thinking about attacking the man who had broken his alpha's morale._

" _Can you be civil about it Peter?" Sydney asked as she peered up at him._

" _I'll do my best."_

" _Okay."_

" _But first thing's first," Peter hesitated and gave Sydney a little smirk, "who let you believe it was your pack?"_

Sydney let out a large gasp and her fingers were forced away from the back of Aidan's neck. Aidan's chest was heaving too and Ethan quickly stepped up beside them, resting a palm on each of their shoulders. Sydney turned her head towards him and flashed him a reassuring smile, hoping that Ethan understood she was telling him that everything was fine.

Aidan's gentle hold on her sides never faltered; instead, he gave her flesh a gentle squeeze, eliciting a small wince from her.

"Stiles asked you to take us into your pack?" Aidan asked in a soft tone.

"Uh yeah." Sydney nodded her head and ran her fingertips over the back of his neck, where her claw marks were already healing up nicely. "I'm not naïve, I knew at the time that you two were strong. There was a reason why Deucalion had you in his pack."

"Right but we were defective." Ethan pointed out and Sydney shook her head.

"I'm defective, you two were just lost. You needed someone to guide you and I believed that with the right person, you'd be great betas. I wasn't wrong, you're aware of that, aren't you?" She asked, flitting her gaze from one twin to the other.

"You think we're great betas?" Aidan scrunched his nose up at the idea that Sydney believed they were worthy of being called great.

"I think you're still a work in progress but you're definitely getting there." She smiled at Aidan, motioning with her head for Ethan to come closer. Ethan hauled himself up and sat on the counter next to her, letting her rest her head against his shoulder. "I think people underestimated you."

"We killed their friends." Aidan stated, letting his mind wander to the senseless deaths that the alpha pack had stacked up. "Boyd, Erica-"

"I've killed before too, it's why my eyes, before I became an alpha, were blue." Sydney reassured him. "Whether it was an accident or because your leader had this sick idea in his head that a pack of alphas would be the best thing for him, that doesn't matter to me. You're my betas because I believe in you."

Ethan and Aidan looked right at each other, taking in her words. Did Sydney really believe what she was saying; did she think that the twins were worth supporting, did she truly believe that they had the potential to be great betas?

"It's definitely nice to have someone like you backing us up." Ethan said with a smile and lifted his arm up, resting it around the back of her shoulders. She tilted her head back and looked up at him through her lashes before grinning.

"Well it's definitely nice to have you two backing _me_ up."

"Hey, what do you say we go one more round of you practicing your memory trick?" Aidan piped up with a mischievous grin toying on his lips.

"Uh, okay." Sydney nodded and forced her claws out once again, placing them against the back of Aidan's neck. "What did you want me to show you this time?"

"I don't want you to show me anything, I want to show you something. Focus on me, I think I can guide you to the memory I want you to see." Aidan explained and gently took hold of her wrist, his own claws popping out of his nail beds and biting into her smooth skin. "This might make you feel a little better."

Sydney nodded her understanding and stole one last look at Ethan before focusing entirely on Aidan. She brought her alpha reds out in full force and drove her claws into the back of Aidan's neck, his claws digging into her arm deeper, blood trickling out of both their wounds.

Aidan tipped his head forward slightly and shut his eyes. He was much calmer this time compared to the first and he knew that if he focused hard enough, he could lead Sydney exactly where he wanted her to go inside his head.

 _Aidan and Ethan were standing next to one another in a vacant parking lot. Their motorcycles residing between them, helmets hanging off the handle bars, both of them decked out in a leather jacket. Ethan took a step around the back of his bike and took up a stance across from Aidan._

 _As he took hold of the helmet, Sydney noticed that both twins had a look of concern etched on their faces._

" _You trust her?" Ethan questioned, his tone slightly skeptical, but Aidan nodded his head yes in response. "She's Peter Hale's mate, that right there is enough to tell you that she's probably certifiably insane."_

" _Maybe but I think there's more to her that you first though." Aidan pointed out and casually lowered his butt down, resting it against the seat of the motorcycle. "She may be mixed up with Peter but if you felt the same sort of energy that I did when we were standing up on that catwalk together, you should know she's going to powerful."_

" _Maybe." Ethan gave his brother a half-hearted shrug. "She smells like trouble though."_

" _She tasted intoxicating." Aidan grinned and Sydney suddenly realized what had happened prior to their gathering in the parking lot. She had never forgotten the kiss that Aidan had given her; it had felt amazing, even if she was mated to Peter. There was something special there, something different than her kisses shared with Peter._

 _Ultimately she had confessed to her mate, she had admitted to the kiss and had chosen to be with Peter. Even presently, at the house in Colorado, she knew that her and Aidan would always just be friends, but to hear him speak about the kiss was something entirely different._

 _She had offered them a place in her pack and then she had stepped in front of the Oni's blade, keeping Aidan alive while she had struggled against death in her own right. This had to be after the whole ordeal, but before she had met them and traded them her house keys for a game of chess._

" _You want to go to Colorado, for real?" Ethan asked and brought his hands up, pressing his palms against the sides of his head. "You want to be part of her pack?"_

" _I think she's our best option right now." Aidan countered and planted his hands on his hips. "She's got the power, the drive to be the best she can be, I think we'd be total idiots for passing an opportunity like this one up."_

" _Okay, so you trust her? You really, truly trust her?" Ethan pressed and dropped his hands down to his sides._

" _I do."_

" _What if it's a trap?"_

" _What does she gain by hurting us?" Aidan shot back. "What would Peter gain?"_

" _I don't know." Ethan murmured and bent over, crouching down so that he was squatting next to his motorcycle. "I don't think she'd gain anything, but I still don't trust either one of them."_

" _You don't have to trust them, but I trust her and I think we should do it, we should accept her offer of joining her pack. Come on Ethan, worst case scenario, we aren't technically omegas for a little while, maybe we'll come across another pack that we can join but you and I both know that if we leave Beacon Hills without a pack, we won't survive very long."_

 _Ethan seemed to contemplate Aidan's words. It was partially true, Omegas didn't seem to have a very big chance at surviving and even if there was two of them, that wouldn't matter to rival packs. At least if they accepted Sydney as their alpha, they'd have someone to turn to, someone who would keep an eye on them. Maybe Aidan had a point, it wasn't like Sydney, or Peter for that matter, had a lot to gain by hurting them, plus Sydney_ _ **had**_ _stepped in front of Aidan, she had taken the strike meant for him._

 _If she wanted to hurt them, that move on her part was counterproductive._

" _Okay, fine." Ethan sighed and stood up, swinging his leg over the seat of the bike. "We accept her as our alpha, but that doesn't mean we're sticking around, okay?"_

" _Sure thing." Aidan nodded. "I think, in time, you'll realize that she's a strong alpha."_

" _Oh I already know she's a strong alpha, it's the company she keeps that concerns me."_

" _Well then just remember, her and Derek are friends and he's an okay guy."_

 _Ethan just shook his head at his brother and grabbed hold of the helmet. Within seconds, both twins were starting up their bikes, their faces shielded by the tinted glass._

Sydney sucked in a breath as her claws freed themselves from the back of his neck. Aidan cautiously let go of her arm but brushed his thumb over the droplets of blood that escaped through her puncture wounds.

"You trusted me?" Sydney asked in a low tone and Aidan gave her a nod. Ethan ran his hand across her back, drawing her attention towards him. "You were right to be worried about Peter, but thank you for giving me a chance to prove to you that he doesn't control my life."

"Well, I'd say we made the right choice accepting you as our alpha." Aidan spoke up and smiled. "We have shelter, we have food, we have family."

"Yeah." Sydney tilted her head back and stared up at the ceiling. "Thank you, for everything you've done."

"We'll always be here for you." Ethan murmured.

"Even if you are pregnant with the devil's spawn." Aidan added with a teasing smile. Sydney choked back a laugh and relaxed against Ethan, letting her hold on Aidan go completely.

Aidan made quick work of taking a seat on the counter on the other side of her, sandwiching her between him and Ethan. Sydney grabbed hold of Aidan's hand and let it rest against her lap while she continued to lean against Ethan's shoulder, his arm moving back and forth across her shoulders.

"Eventually I'm going to go back to Beacon Hills, even if it's just to see what I can salvage." Sydney said in a soft voice. "I have to talk to Stiles too at some point."

"Whatever you need to do, we'll support you."

"Okay, maybe, depending on how dinner Friday goes, I'll see if Charlie wants to take a little road trip with me, introduce her to the people back in California." Sydney said.

"Right." Aidan nodded his agreement but Ethan just looked at her.

"Unless you think that's a bad idea." Sydney replied, looking right at Ethan.

"Well I don't know. It'd definitely give you two time to work things out and it might be better for Aidan and me to stay here and continue gathering information for the bestiary."

"You're just nervous right? What if she's not who she says she is sort of deal?" Sydney inquired and nuzzled her head against his shoulder. "I can take care of myself, plus she seems like a nice girl. You gave me a chance; maybe we can give her one too."

"I think that's a fair deal." Aidan piped up. "But if she gives you any trouble at all, you call us and we'll take care of her."

"Got it." Sydney rolled her eyes at his offer but felt a little better knowing that the twins really did have her back.

All she had to do now was figure out when she was going to head back to Beacon Hills and what she'd be expecting when she got there.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 **Here we have Sydney and her pack learning together. Are you guys still enjoying this?**

 **Again, h** **ow's that make you guys feel to know that Sydney's pregnant? What are you hoping happens, boy, girl, any thoughts at all?**

 **What do you guys think of Charlie?**

 **Thank you a billion times over to those that reviewed; poorxbrokexcollegexkid & sarahmichellegellarfan1! And thank you to all of those who added this story to their favourites and alerts!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 4** **:**_

Sleeping at night hadn't gotten any easier since Sydney had visited Doctor Steve, and even if her nightmares weren't quite as gruesome, they were still very present and very terrifying, waking her up nightly from the horrifying images swimming in her head. If Steve hadn't rightfully informed her that she was pregnant, then Sydney would have come up with a plan of her own, potentially bringing in the twins to help her, and she knew that it wouldn't have been pretty.

The idea of having them spar with her until she nearly passed out had crossed her mind more than once but she had to protect the baby, it wasn't just about her anymore. Being reckless wasn't going to fly and she knew that she had to step it up, she had to start being a responsible adult, even that was something she wasn't entirely familiar with.

The twins had been very helpful lately, Aidan spending most of the nights with her curled up in his arms as he tried to draw out her pain. All she wanted to do was sleep peacefully but the nightmares, the chills, the heartache, was far too much for her to handle on her own and she found the tiniest bit of comfort within Aidan's hold, at the very least, he provided her with the knowledge that she wasn't alone and there were other wolves counting on her.

When Friday rolled around, she had managed to pull herself together well enough to make the lasagna that she had planned on making. It had started smelling delicious soon after she had thrown it in the over and with the only thing left to make being the garlic bread, she took a seat at the kitchen table and let out a sigh.

Ethan, who had been helping her make the dinner, wandered over and flopped down into the chair next to her, reaching his hand out and running his palm down her arm. She flashed him a small, sad smile and scooted her chair closer to his, letting him take hold of her hand in a comforting gesture.

If he really knew how much she was hurting, how badly her entire body truly ached, then he was well aware of how difficult it was for her to try and keep it together. His fingers gave her hand a gentle squeeze and she carefully lowered her head down, resting her chin on the surface of the table.

"I feel bad." Ethan admitted softly and she tipped her head the tiniest bit to look him in the eye.

"Why?" She was utterly confused. It wasn't like Ethan played a part in her getting pregnant, nor had he been involved in the whole situation that had caused her to lose Peter in the first place. In her head, there was absolutely no reason for him to feel bad, not when she had managed to get herself into her current position on her own.

"For not being able to help you." He answered and leaned down so that he was a little bit closer to her. "I hate that you're hurting and I can't do anything to help. Aidan feels the same way."

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to picture Peter's face but when all she could manage was his screwed up werewolf visage, she shook her head, leaned back in the chair and opened her eyes to look right back at Ethan. The face that she had seen was the face of betrayal, a face that broke her heart knowing that he had chosen power over being with her.

"You guys are probably one of the only reasons why I'm not going right off the deep end completely." She admitted with a small sigh. "So please don't feel bad, it'd be so much easier if we all just pretended that there's nothing wrong with me."

"Well there isn't _really_ anything wrong with you. You're pregnant." Ethan pointed out with a teasing grin and she rolled her eyes at him in response. "As for the whole withdrawal thing, we're trying to come up with some sort of solution, at the very least maybe there's something we can do to help you."

She sucked in a breath and held it for a few seconds, twisting her hand under his hold and intertwining her fingers with his. He shifted his chair closer to hers and moved to sit on the edge of the seat before bringing his free hand across her back, moving it over her shoulders in a soothing motion.

"It's not your problem." Sydney remarked nonchalantly, knowing that they didn't owe her anything when it came to things involving Peter Hale.

"Well, maybe not technically but you _are_ our alpha, I think we owe you at least an attempt at a solution, especially after everything you've done for my brother and I." Ethan explained and she shrugged her shoulders.

Maybe they did owe her, maybe together the two of them could come up with a way to help her but would it really make a difference in the end. All she wanted was to be close to Peter, to have him love her as much as she loved him, for him to need her like she wanted him too.

She had outright told Peter months ago that she was aware he'd never be able to love her as much as she loved him but there had to be something that could change that?

He had seemed genuinely upset at the idea of leaving her to spend his days in Eichen House and maybe he hadn't thought his whole plan through completely, but the look in his eyes, the demand to see her alpha reds one more time before being whisked away to his room, that had to mean something, right? Maybe he was just scared of what was really going on between them?

"If I didn't have you two here with me then I'd basically be a sitting duck anyways so don't think that I'm not just as grateful that you're here."

"For protection?" Ethan asked in an attempt to clear up his slight confusion.

"Yeah, and for company. I don't do well on my own for long periods of time. If you two weren't here with me, I think I'd probably go a little crazy."

"You mean crazier." Ethan prodded with a smirk. She let out an amused scoff and turned on her chair to face him directly. "You're a good alpha but right now, you're a little distracted, and that's okay. We get it and we're not going to abandon you, not for anything, you know that, don't you?"

"I…I think so." She sighed at her total lack of confidence and dropped her gaze down to the floor. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Just being here." She nodded her head and tried to hold back the overwhelming emotions that were trying to take over. "You and Aidan are really good betas."

"Aidan might argue that he's a better alpha but I appreciate the sentiment." Ethan teased and gave her a gentle nudge on the back with his hand. She let out a tiny chuckle and shoved her chair back, making her way to her feet and tugging Ethan out of his chair too.

He took a step forward and slipped his arms around her, holding her tight against his chest as she relaxed in his hold.

"You can do this okay, no matter what, we're not going anywhere."

Without another word between them, she gave a nod of understanding and reluctantly pulled away. He followed her lead and headed over to the counter where the bread was waiting to be turned into garlic bread.

She started to cut the crusty loaf in half, Ethan standing not too far away from her, his eyes glued on her actions. He watched her fluid movements as she sawed at the bread, the muscles in her arms squirming slightly beneath her skin. When she had managed to get the entire loaf apart, he set his hand on her back, directly between her shoulders, and gave her skin a gentle pinch.

"I'll go tell Aidan to put on his Sunday best." Ethan joked and Sydney turned her head to the side to glance at him.

"It's Friday." She pointed out but the smile on her face told him all he needed to know. Maybe she wasn't doing as bad as he originally thought.

"Well his Friday best would usually consist of tight jeans and no shirt, so I think in this case-"

"Ah yes, dress pants and a tie." She cut him off and giggled at Ethan's smile. "Don't forget to make sure he's wearing his blazer too."

"You got jokes now?" Ethan couldn't help but laugh. She shook her head with a smile and let out a sigh as his hand moved away from her back.

As silence fell over them, she focused her ears in on the house and merely listened as Ethan wandered away. Their guests would be there soon and she knew there was no turning back now.

If all went well, she'd have, yet another, beta in her pack.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Having Steve and Charlie for dinner wasn't even close to as bad as Sydney thought it would be, in fact, the two of them seemed rather nice and not totally psychotic, which Sydney had become used to living in Peter's apartment.

As far as people went, they seemed as normal as they could be and when she had brought the tray full of lasagna out and set it on the table, their eyes had lit up as though they hadn't eaten a home cooked meal in forever. When the garlic bread, which had been thrown into a napkin lined basket, joined the lasagna on the table, Charlie's hand immediately reached out and grabbed a piece but not without a glare from her father.

"Sorry." Charlie muttered as she released her hold on the piece of garlic bread, letting it fall back into the basket.

"What for?" Sydney looked at the younger girl in confusion and wondered what the hell she was apologizing for. It was a few seconds later that it hit her. She was a guest and guests were supposed to behave in a decent manner, but that wasn't how Sydney worked, not at all.

Without a word shared between them, Sydney reached into the basket, grabbed a piece of bread and set it on Charlie's plate with a smile.

"Thanks." Charlie smiled up at her and kept her eyes trained on the alpha as she made her way down into a sitting position at the chair next to Charlie. Sydney then reached out and nabbed a piece of garlic bread for her own plate, motioning towards Ethan to get started on serving up the lasagna.

Minutes later, when everyone at the table had food on their plates and drinks in their glasses, she glanced around the table and smiled at the guests she was about to share her meal with.

Steve cleared his throat and brought everyone's attention to him, Sydney looking at him with a curious expression, wondering what he was going to do now.

"I'd just like to thank you for welcoming us into your home and cooking us this lovely meal. It's been a long time since Charlie and myself have had a meal that looks and smells this delicious!"

Sydney shied away from his gaze and stole a look at Charlie, who was grinning at the alpha. She broke eye contact with the young beta and looked towards the twins, who were also both grinning at her, clearly knowing how wonderful a home cooked meal could really be, which was something both of them were thankful for now that they were living under the same roof as Sydney.

"Yeah, thanks for having us." Charlie added and flashed an appreciative smile in Sydney's direction.

Sydney bowed her head, acknowledging that they were welcome, then she picked up her fork, looked around the table one more time and watched as everyone else dove in before poking at the lasagna on her plate. As soon as everyone else was enjoying the meal, she finally lifted the fork up to her lips and took the lasagna into her mouth, savoring the vibrant flavours that hit her tongue.

"So…" Steve broke the silence and set his fork on the edge of his plate, half of his lasagna now gone. "Maybe you three can tell us a little about yourselves and where you came from?"

Aidan followed Steve's lead and set his fork down too, looking towards Sydney for some sort of permission to go ahead. When she flashed him a smile, he accepted this as a signal and opened his mouth to tell them where they had been before showing up in Colorado.

"We were in Beacon Hills, California, dealing with a Darach-"

"A Darach?" Charlie cut in and looked between her father and Aidan, confusion very evident on her face.

"It's basically a dark druid." Sydney supplied. "This particular druid was a little on the vengeful side and she tried to wipe out the alpha pack, which is where the twins came from."

"Right." Charlie hummed, still clearly confused but accepting of the information provided with the hopes that it'd become clearer later on. "What exactly is an alpha pack?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like, a pack of werewolves made entirely of alphas." Sydney explained. "Two of the alpha pack members are gone now, one of whom I killed, but the leader is still out there, somewhere."

"We lost our alpha sparks though." Ethan threw in and flashed his blue eyes in Charlie's direction, letting her see the true nature of his wolf.

"How?" Charlie spat out in response. "And why did you kill one of them?"

"We were injured really badly." Aidan answered. "In order to heal, it took away that extra power within us."

"If I didn't kill him, the leader would've, I seized my opportunity and that's how I got my alpha status." Sydney added once Aidan had finished explaining his portion. "Maybe it wasn't necessarily the right thing to do but it's certainly helped get me to where I am now."

"I guess I don't really have too much to say about your past, so long as there was an explanation," Charlie paused and looked over to her father, who nodded at her, urging her to continue, "what colour were your eyes then Sydney, before you became an alpha?"

Sydney sucked in a breath and tried to imagine this conversation going smoothly in her head. She had no doubt that Charlie might be a little hesitant to join her pack if she knew that she had killed an innocent but the girl had also stated that as long as there was an explanation, there wasn't much she could say about her past.

"Blue." Sydney answered simply, giving Charlie the opportunity to digest this information.

"Okay, what happened then?" Steve piped up.

"Some guy tried to assault me when I was younger, I freaked out and before I really knew what was happening, it was too late." Sydney explained and sucked in a breath, trying to keep the horrifying memories at bay. "Derek helped me bury his body."

"Derek Hale, right?" Steve had his undivided attention on Sydney. She could tell from the look in his eye that he wasn't judging her, not yet at least, but merely trying to gain as much information as possible from her before officially letting his daughter join her pack.

She didn't blame him, if she was in his position, she'd be doing the exact same thing. Charlie was his family and from her understanding, she was all he had left, he just wanted to protect her, to make sure that she'd be okay under Sydney's leadership.

"Yeah, Derek Hale. He's my best friend, I lived near him until I was ten." Sydney replied. "His family took me in when my parents were slaughtered."

"Wait, your parents were slaughtered?" Charlie's eyes nearly bugged out of her head, a stare so intense that it made Sydney flinch.

"Killed by hunters." Sydney replied softly. "I spent a few days with the Hales before coming here to spend most of my teenage years under my grandparents' supervision."

"Right." Steve nodded, so far, so good, at least he understood her connection to Colorado. "You mentioned that you're mated to Peter Hale though, may I ask how he fits into all of this?"

Aidan let out a snort and immediately received a slug in the shoulder from his brother. Sydney rolled her eyes at them both, sucked in a breath and tried to form the words in her head before speaking them out loud.

"I headed to Beacon Hills during the whole Kanima ordeal to help Derek out. He had just become an alpha in his own right and had turned three teenagers, which turned out to be a bit of a handful for one person, so there I was. We got into it a few times and he ended up saying some things that I didn't appreciate, so I left his place, which was where I had been staying, and then realized that I didn't really have anywhere else to go."

"So she went to Peter." Aidan supplied, sensing the discomfort that recounting her tale was causing Sydney.

"He took me in." Sydney nodded. "It was only supposed to be for a little while but then things happened between us, I fell in love with him and it just sort of went unspoken that I'd stay with him, until everything went down not too long ago."

The table remained silent and Sydney took in a breath, daring herself to look around the table. She knew that it wasn't necessarily the most exciting story and for anyone who knew Peter, they'd certainly find themselves wondering how she could possibly have fallen in love with the man, but it was true.

No one seemed to make a move to say anything, although there was a clearly confused expression on Charlie's face that Sydney was starting to think was going to be around for quite a while. The girl was unfamiliar with a lot of supernatural creatures and if she was going to become part of her pack, well then Sydney would have to fill her in on all the creatures that she'd encountered thus far.

"Before I came here, Peter just went completely off the deep end, he tried to go after Scott McCall, Beacon Hills' true alpha, and in the process managed to get himself locked up in a mental institution." She went on, hoping that someone would ask her a question just so she could pull herself out of her own memories.

"Is he still in the mental institution?" Charlie questioned but her voice was low, holding less confidence than Sydney had heard with her previous questions.

"As far as I know." Sydney nodded. "I didn't stick around once he was admitted."

"And now you're pregnant, with his kid?" Charlie pressed and Sydney nodded her head yes. "Plus you're mated to him, which is why you're going through the withdrawal, right?"

"Yeah." She sighed. If she had known how hard it would've been to just _be with_ Peter to start with, she might've seriously considered holding off on the mate bite, at least if she had, she wouldn't be suffering as bad now that he was locked away.

But was that seriously something she would've wanted to give up? She did love him, and she knew he loved her, and maybe they had rushed into things, but there wasn't a single person that she could imagine being with who wasn't Peter Hale.

"Is he an alpha too?" Charlie inquired and looked between Steve and Sydney.

"No. He _was_ but things happened." She murmured.

"Syd here got stabbed during a fight, we were both there." Ethan motioned to himself and then to his brother. "From my understanding, he forfeited his alpha spark in order to save her."

"Oh, I get it." Charlie smiled and nodded her head. "He's just a total tool when it comes to everyone else but with Sydney here, he's not such a bad guy, am I right?"

"You're not wrong." Aidan threw out with a laugh. "He tried to annihilate Scott on more than one occasion, there was a time when he tried to kill his own nephew and before I even got to Beacon Hills, he went on a bit of a murder spree and killed everyone who had a hand in the deaths of his family."

"There was a fire." Sydney threw in.

"Right." Charlie smiled. "His eyes are blue too then?"

"Yup." Aidan replied.

"Got it. I still have one more question though." Charlie straightened up in her chair and leveled her gaze on Sydney, who went rigid at the girl's look. "What the hell is a Kanima?"

Letting out a low whistle, Sydney felt herself relax in her chair. Yes, she could definitely handle answering that question, so long as Charlie didn't delve too much into her personal life or the choices she had made. It was easy to see that from an outsider's perspective, Sydney wasn't exactly the best choice for an alpha, but she knew that she was a better option than some others.

She wasn't a murdering psychopath hell bent on revenge, like Peter had once been, nor was she a power hungry alpha who sought out the best and the brightest before forcing them to kill their own packs to become part of something bigger, like Deucalion. She also wasn't an alpha who failed to protect virtually everyone in her pack, like Derek had done. In her mind, she was a decent alpha so far and she hoped that she could continue to be the best she could be.

"A Kanima is a lizard like, murdering snake shifter who's controlled by a master." Ethan tossed out and caught the look that Sydney flashed him. "See Peter bit this kid named Jackson and instead of turning into a werewolf like any normal person would, he turned into a Kanima instead."

"So Peter's bite can turn people into Kanimas?" Charlie questioned, Steve studying Sydney's face, hoping for an explanation.

"Yeah." Sydney shrugged. "He made a werejaguar too, and his kid is a werecoyote."

"Wait, what?" Steve spoke up and leaned forward. "How did he make a werejaguar?"

"Kate, who was part of the group of people responsible for the fire, was his primary target way back when. He ripped her throat out with the intention of killing her but she turned up months later as a werejaguar." Sydney tried to explain but she knew that the deeper they got into Peter's history, the more complex things seemed to get.

"So he turned her…how?"

"Technically by scratch." Sydney nodded.

"And he has a kid? Who doubles as a werecoyote?" Steve continued to press her for answers and Sydney gave him another nod. "She's not your kid, is she?"

"No." Sydney shook her head. "He didn't even know about her until recently. I think this time it has something to do with genetics though and not his uncanny ability to create weird supernatural creatures…her mom is the Desert Wolf, whoever that is."

"Has he created any other unusual creatures?" Steve asked.

"Well Scott McCall, his first attempt at a beta, is now a true alpha, but I'm pretty sure that's because of his character and not because of Peter." Sydney explained. "I don't think he's tried to turn anyone else since Scott though, so I don't know…"

"In theory then, you could be having a dragon baby." Charlie offered up nonchalantly and suddenly all eyes were on her, staring at her intensely. "What?"

"What are you talking about?" Aidan scoffed, the idea of Sydney having a dragon baby sounded completely absurd, there was no way she'd have anything other than a werewolf, right?

"Well, based on the fact that the guy who is the father, at least I'm assuming he is," Charlie paused and Sydney nodded her head yes, "has made everything _but_ a normal werewolf, I think it's a decent assumption that whatever Sydney here gives birth too could easily be something other than a werewolf."

Sydney cocked her head to the side and let Charlie's words sink in. Was it possible for that to happen? Was there a remote possibility that her baby wouldn't be a werewolf? Charlie _did_ have a good point, Peter apparently created creatures that weren't simply werewolves but this was different, wasn't it?

"That's a fair hypothesis but I think that a dragon baby is a little out there." Steve said calmly, sensing the uneasiness emanating off of Sydney. "Genetically it's probably safe to assume that the baby will most likely be born a werewolf, or the very least, some sort of canine shape shifter."

"What if it's not?" Sydney asked in a scared tone. "What if it _is_ a dragon?"

"Maybe the ultrasound will show us something good, I highly doubt you're going to give birth to a dragon." Steve was clearly trying to make her feel better but the idea had already been planted in her head. So maybe her baby wouldn't be a dragon, what if it was something completely different, what if it wasn't a werewolf at all?

"How cool would a dragon baby be though?" Aidan broke out into a fit of laughter. "Best possible outcome in my eyes."

"Whatever it is, we'll figure it out." Ethan remarked, his tone soothing to her fears. Yes, they would figure it out, that's what they had been working towards, that was why they were creating their very own bestiary, no matter what her baby turned out to be, she'd have her pack to back her up as they tried to figure out what it could possibly be, if it wasn't a werewolf after all.

"Can we move on to a different topic of conversation?" Sydney's voice was slightly uneasy but her words were still firm.

"Sure." Charlie motioned for Sydney to continue.

"I was hoping that you and your dad would let me look into your memories after dinner, obviously you can say no but I think it might help us both establish some sort of trust. I'll only look at what you want to show me but I really think this is a good way to get to know each other."

"I'm up for it, but only if you promise me you've done this before." Charlie locked her eyes on Sydney, who tilted her head in Aidan's direction. Aidan gave the younger girl a reassuring smile, implying that he had been one of her test subjects.

"I've done it to Peter too." Sydney added quickly.

"Well then I'm in. Dad?" Charlie peeled her eyes away from Sydney and looked towards her father, who was already smiling from ear to ear.

"I think I've got some things tucked away in my head that Sydney here would be happy to see." He smiled in response. "Now, I say we save the serious conversation for after dinner and we all get back to this delicious lasagna!"

Sydney couldn't help but smile at the doctor's suggestion. He certainly reminded her of her own father, even her grandfather, and suddenly she knew that this was the right call.

Not only would she be gaining a beta, she'd be gaining a valuable ally too.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 **Do you guys think Sydney's pack is decent? Do you like her aligning herself with the twins and now Charlie?**

 **Charlie is not my character, she belongs to poorxbrokexcollegexkid and if you want to read more of Charlie, then please go check out her story!**

 **What are you guys hoping happens when it comes to the baby? Boy, girl, any thoughts at all? What about whether its a werewolf or something else? Thoughts, ideas?**

 **Thank you to those that added this to their alerts and favourites!**

 **poorxbrokexcollegexkid: A little girl aw, yes, that would be sweet! As for her and Charlie, well she might just be the female presence she needs!**

 **sarahmichellegellarfan1: thank you so much!**

 **musicluver246: why thank you so much!**

 **Just to let you guys know, the more reviews that this chapter gets, the sooner I'll update and if anyone wants a sneak peek of the next chapter, leave me a review so I can PM you!**


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 5** **:**_

Sydney had sent the boys into the backyard to get to know one another better while gently asking if Charlie would mind helping her clean up. She hadn't wanted to force the girl to do anything, especially when it came to taking care of the dishes, as well as the mess that they had made, but Charlie had known exactly what Sydney really wanted and it didn't have much to do with cleaning up at all.

Once the two of them were alone in the kitchen, they had gathered up the dirty dishes off the table and thrown then into the dishwasher while the lasagna pan sat in the sink to soak. With Charlie right next to her, Sydney let out a sigh and leaned against the counter, watching as Charlie did the same thing, only she brought her arms up and crossed them over her chest before stealing a sideways glance at the woman who was more than likely going to be her new alpha.

"So this Peter guy, he's a really bad dude?" Charlie asked, her hand up and down her arm, trying to keep herself somewhat occupied so that she didn't end up fidgeting too much. Sure she liked Sydney and they seemed to be getting along great, but there was still so much that neither one knew about the other.

"Yeah, he's a pretty bad dude." Sydney sighed, echoing Charlie's words, knowing that no matter what Charlie could possibly say, she'd never give Peter up for anything, even if it meant gaining a new beta and an around the clock doctor.

"And you love him?" Charlie pressed, throwing one of her feet out and bringing it back, crossing it over her other one.

"With all my heart." Sydney breathed the words out and suddenly realized how much she really, truly missed him already.

It hadn't been more than a few weeks and even though she spent night after night shaking, sweating and suffering from nightmares, it hadn't exactly occurred to her that she actually missed Peter.

The idea of him being all the way back in California, locked up in some asylum, now bothered her more than it had even when she had said goodbye inside Eichen House. Peter was gone, he was tucked away, kept out of her reach and she didn't know for how long, if he ever got out at all. She was terrified of spending the rest of her life without him, especially now that she was aware she was pregnant.

Their child could quite possibly grow up fatherless and Sydney knew exactly how that felt, except she was lucky enough to know her own father, even if was only for a short period of time.

"Well then," Charlie paused but with her words she pulled Sydney back to the reality at hand, "I guess I can deal with that."

"Wait," Sydney whipped her head to the side and stared at Charlie, a surprised expression on her face, "you're not even a little bit concerned that I'm in love with a psychotic murdering asshole?"

"Concerned, sure," She nodded in response and a smirk tugged at her lips, "but if you trust him, if you really love him, then that's all that matters to me."

"Really?" Sydney scrunched her nose up at Charlie's admission, wondering why this girl could accept her past so easily.

Everyone in Beacon Hills who had found out about her relationship with Peter had been bluntly objective, for the most part at least. They constantly reminded her that he wasn't good for her but she didn't care and in the end, even though others were hurt in the process, she was the one who was dealing with the most fallout.

"It's clichéd to say but you can't help who you fall in love with, I know that. There's probably better people out there but that being said, I'm sure there's worse too. You could've fallen in love with that Kanima thing, that would've been catastrophic." Charlie stated and ended her sentence with a teasing smile.

She had a point, Sydney could've fallen in love with the Kanima, but she hadn't, and there was no doubt in her mind that if she had, it definitely would've been catastrophic. Another prime example of worse people for her to have fallen in love with was definitely a berserker, a creature that Sydney hadn't yet told Charlie about.

"Let me show you something." Sydney said softly and motioned for Charlie to follow her.

She wandered out of the kitchen, the young beta following her every move, and ushered her into the living room, where her bestiary research resided on the coffee table stacked in neat piles. Sydney dropped down to sit on the couch and patted the cushion next to her, Charlie following suit and sitting next to her new alpha.

Reaching her hand out, Sydney grabbed hold of the stack of papers sitting on the table. She began flipping through until she landed on the very page she was looking for, the one with the rough, messy sketch of the berserkers.

"What's that?" Charlie asked, looking at the page that Sydney held in her hand, offering it to Charlie.

"It's a berserker. It's one of the many supernatural creatures that I've encountered while in Beacon Hills. I figured I should give you the low down on what you're really getting into by joining my pack." Sydney explained and when Charlie took the paper, her eyes scanned each and every roughly sketched detail of the massive animal on the page. "I'm trying to create my own bestiary."

"What exactly is a bestiary?"

"It's basically an encyclopedia of all the supernatural creatures known to man. The twins and I have been trying to gather as much information on other _things_ as we can."

"What's a berserker then?"

"To put it in a way that makes sense, they're giant, animalistic warriors who have skulls for faces and bones for armour. Tough son of a bitches, mean too." Sydney explained in as best a way as she possibly could. "They were working for Kate, the werejaguar, back in California."

"Wow." Charlie gaped, her eyes studying the picture even more carefully.

"I managed to gain control of them though."

"Them? As in more than one?" Charlie peeled her eyes off the paper and looked at Sydney, an awestruck expression on her face.

"We encountered two at once but they were pretty submissive once I dug my teeth into their flesh." Sydney gave Charlie a shrug but smiled at what she was hoping would be her new protégé. "Hard to kill."

"Right." Charlie gave her a single nod as she digested all of the information she had just been given. Sydney cautiously reached out and took hold of the edge of the paper, pulling it away once Charlie let go.

"Not impossible though." Sydney let out a chuckle. "The ones in California are gone now."

"That's good to know." Charlie muttered and relaxed against the back of the couch.

"This is probably a little overwhelming but I'm not going to let anything happen to you, so long as I can help it." Sydney explained. "And if you ever find yourself in a position that you don't feel comfortable being in, let me know and I'll do my best to fix that."

"Yeah, okay." Charlie nodded and leaned forward, taking in all the different pictures on the pages residing on the coffee table.

Some of them looked more like hand drawn sketches while other pictures were clearly images that had been printed off the computer; either way, there were a lot more supernatural creatures on the table than Charlie had known about, which happened to make her a little nervous about the entire situation.

"There's another pack of werewolves in Beacon Hills, aside from Scott McCall." Sydney stated and flipped through more pages, her eyes landing on the one articles she wanted to show Charlie. "But his pack is pretty unique on its own. He's got himself a beta wolf, the werecoyote I was talking about earlier-"

"Peter's kid?"

"Yeah, her name's Malia." Sydney glanced down at her feet as Malia flashed through her head. "He's also got a banshee and a kitsune in his pack too."

"I kind of know what a kitsune is but what the hell is a banshee?" Charlie narrowed her eyes in on Sydney, who simply offered her the page on Banshees. Without a word between them, Charlie's eyes scanned the words along the left side of the paper. "'An omen of death'? Oh dear god."

"It's not as bad as it sounds, at least not the way I've seen it. This banshee that Scott has, she can sort of predict death before it happens but from what I gather, she hasn't quite perfected her abilities yet." Sydney stated. "If you're ever anywhere near her and she screams, I'd get the hell out of dodge."

"Oh."

"Trust me on that." Sydney chuckled.

Charlie gingerly set the paper containing information on Banshees down on the table, then she twisted her upper body so that she was facing Sydney head on. Sydney looked right back at her and simply waited for her to speak, knowing that all this new information had to be hard for Charlie to take in all at once.

"All I've ever encountered are other werewolves, like you." Charlie pointed out, waving her hand in Sydney's direction. "I didn't know there were so many other types of supernatural creatures out there."

"Oh yeah, there's lots." Sydney snorted and found herself remembering all the time that she had spent being possessed by a dark spirit. "If this isn't what you figured you were signing up for, I won't be upset to see you leave here not wanting to be part of my pack."

"No, that's not it." Charlie shook her head and sucked in a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before blowing it out. "I just wouldn't know how to handle any of these _things_ if I ever encountered them."

Sydney smiled at the girl and extended her hand towards her, letting Charlie grab hold of it before letting their hands dangle between them.

"That's why I'm putting together the bestiary."

Charlie tilted her head to the side, stole a look out of the corner of her eyes at the pages, and then focused her attention solely on Sydney.

"So that you can be one step ahead when shit hits the fan." Charlie stated and Sydney knew that she wasn't asking.

"Exactly." Sydney's smile grew. "Maybe we can get your dad to help us with the bestiary, he might know of some protective measures to take against certain creatures, right?"

"I'm sure if he doesn't, he's got friends that might know some things." Charlie remarked and found her mind wandering back to the very first time that her father had told her about mountain ash and how werewolves were unable to cross barriers or touch the substance itself. Yes, her father knew people in high places that definitely might know of some ways to protect against other supernatural beings.

Sydney let go of Charlie's hand and watched as she relaxed the slightest bit against the couch. There was definitely a connection between them, she liked Charlie and Charlie seemed to accept Sydney, even if her past was less than stellar. Having another female in her pack would give her someone she could talk to about private matters, matters that not all males enjoyed hearing about, it would also give her a much needed female friend, someone who could back her up while at the same time being invested in the situation, unlike a lot of the males that she had been around in her lifetime.

"Me and the twins train together, I'm sure there's a few things we can show you and I'm also sure there's a few things you can show us. I'd love to try and get you accustomed to being able to look into other people's memories, if that's something you'd like?"

"I'd love that." Charlie bowed her head and looked over at Sydney's hands, taking in the sight of her blunt human fingernails. "I have a few good offenses that my dad's shown me over the years that I can show you guys. I'm sure he can get you some mountain ash and stuff like that too."

"That sounds good to me." Sydney smiled at the girl and Charlie brought her eyes up, meeting Sydney's gaze. "I think we'll make a great team."

"No, not a team, a pack. We'll make a great pack." Charlie beamed back at her.

"Even better. We'll make a great _pack_." Sydney agreed and Charlie let out a low chuckle.

"Come on, let's go get my dad so you can look into our heads." Charlie suggested and Sydney nodded her understanding.

Before she could say another word to the young beta, Charlie was up, off the couch and heading for the kitchen, where she'd no doubt head outside and meet up with the guys.

Sydney hesitated for all of two seconds before standing up and following her lead. Yes, Charlie seemed like the perfect addition to her pack.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

The twins had suggested that the best place for Sydney to try out her alpha skills to get into Charlie's memories was the living room, which is precisely where they were. Charlie was sitting on the couch sideways, facing Sydney, who had her palm resting against the side of her neck, the tips of her claws pressed against the skin at the base of her neck, ready for Charlie to give her the go ahead.

Sydney was nervous, still not having perfected the art in her mind. Aidan had watched as she placed her fingernails on the back of Charlie's neck and had given her a nod of approval, letting her know that, as far as he was concerned, she was set to get it done.

Steve was sitting on the edge of the coffee table facing the two girls, ready to lunge forward if he noticed anything funny going on. The twins were both leaning over the back of the couch, mere inches away from the two girls, ready to do the same thing that Steve was prepared to do if it came down to it.

Charlie sucked in a breath and turned her head the slightest bit to the side to get a good look at her dad, who smiled at her in return. He was ready to let Sydney do her thing, maybe even a little bit excited, for it had been quite a while since he had been in the presence of an alpha with such a skill. The last time had been when he had sought out help in saving his daughter, a rather young looking female alpha who happened to be passing through Colorado had done him the favour and given his daughter a second chance at life.

That had been years ago and he hadn't even caught a glimpse of the woman since she had bit his daughter, giving her life when she had been so close to death.

"What do you want me to do again?" Charlie questioned in a soft voice and locked her eyes on Sydney, who was breathing in deep breaths, holding them for a couple seconds and then letting them out. It was obvious that the alpha was just as nervous, maybe even more so, than the rest of the people in the room.

"Concentrate on the memory that you want me to see." Sydney answered, her voice equally as soft. "Focus as best you can on what you want to try and let me in to see."

Charlie gave her a firm nod and shut her eyes, picturing what she could just barely remember. The specific memory that she wanted to show her new alpha was something that was still a blur to her but she had tried to fill in the gaps with her father's stories. If all went according to plan, Sydney would get to see something that Charlie only remembered bits and pieces off, which would only help Charlie in the long run, just as much as it would prove to Sydney that she was trustworthy.

"Any time you're ready." Charlie murmured and her shoulders tensed as Sydney forced her claws out, running her index finger along her spin and slicing the skin in a shallow manner.

"You sure about this?" Sydney asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Charlie gave her a nod but kept her eyes shut, hoping that this wasn't going to hurt too much. She waited for a few more seconds and when Sydney forced the tips of her claws into her skin, she let out a low gasp and felt her vision going darker.

Sydney shut her eyes too and tried to take deep, relaxing breaths but the idea of invading someone else's mind was still a hard thing for her to get over. Without much trouble though, she surged forward, driving her claws deeper into Charlie's flesh. Soon enough the picture became clearer and Sydney found herself inside a hospital room, a dim hospital room.

It was silent except for the loud, rhythmic beeping of the monitors. The sun was going down, which could easily be seen from the window, which was uncovered, letting in as much of the fading sun as possible. Sydney waited, watching patiently as the form in the pint sized hospital bed became clearer, the same upturned nose that she recognized on Charlie now.

 _This little girl, who looked not much older than a baby was deathly still, her chest rising and falling in the same rhythm as the ventilator next to the bed. The guardrails were up, keeping the tiny child safe within the confines of the bed and as the picture grew even clearer, Sydney couldn't help but hold her breath._

 _Scrapes and bruises littered the tiny body and the line of harsh looking stitches along the little girl's hairline were caked with black, dried blood. This child, Charlie, had been hurt, gravely so._

" _I can't lose her too." A familiar voice sounded out in the room and Sydney turned around, facing Steve and a doctor who were speaking to each other. She watched as Steve glanced over to the bed, tears running out of his eyes, a defeated expression on his face._

" _She's suffered significant injuries, I don't know what else to tell you except to hope for a miracle."_

" _But I just lost her mother!" Steve barked and turned on his heel, his back facing the male doctor he had been speaking too._

" _I'm sorry, there's not much more I can do." The doctor replied softly, reached out and gave Steve a gentle pat on the back of his arm and then took off, letting the door shut behind him as he went._

 _Steve wandered over to the side of the bed and looked down at the unmoving child. Sydney had known all along that this child was Charlie but it didn't make it any less upsetting when Steve reached down and grabbed hold of her tiny little hand, which was a quarter of the size of his, at least._

" _The doctor's can't do anything more kid." Steve murmured sadly and leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss against Charlie's tiny little forehead. Sydney held her breath and hoped that the little girl would respond. Obviously she didn't die, the older version of the tot was sitting in her living room at that very moment, but that didn't ease the ache in her heart as she watched Steve silently praying for her to be okay. "I have one more thing we can try but it's a little unconventional."_

 _Sydney held her breath and waited as Steve kissed the back of Charlie's hand before heading for the door. He disappeared out into the hall and Sydney seized her opportunity to take a better look at the tiny child. She stared at her battered face and wondered what exactly Steve had in mind for her._

 _While Sydney knew that Charlie had been bitten in order to keep her alive, she wondered who was going to walk through the door, who was going to be the one with enough willpower to sink their teeth into a child and bring her back from the brink of death._

 _When the door opened, Sydney immediately focused on Steve, who was walking in front of another person. He closed in on Charlie, letting the person hang back and when Sydney caught a glimpse of the person standing inside the room, she nearly had a heart attack._

 _Her mother, Brynn Vance, in all of her glory, was standing there; watching with the same eyes that Sydney had inherited as Steve gently took hold of Charlie's hand once again._

 _She couldn't take her eyes off her very own mother, a woman whom she hadn't seen in years yet she looked exactly like she remembered. With a confidence that Sydney hadn't seen though, her mother strode across the room and took up a stance on the other side of the unconscious Charlie._

" _How old is she?" Brynn questioned in a hushed tone, her leather jacket hugging her in all the right places. Sydney took in the sight of her and found herself remembering how lucky she had been to have a mother like her in her life, even if it was only for a little while._

" _She just turned one." Steve answered sadly and looked across the small bed to meet her mother's eyes._

" _And you swear to me that there's no other options to try and save her?"_

" _The doctor said I could pray for a miracle." Steve replied, his grip on Charlie's hand tightening ever so slightly. "But other than that, there's nothing more anyone can do."_

" _And you're sure you want me to do this?"_

" _Please, I don't know what else to do."_

 _Her mother bowed her head and studied the limp form of the little tiny girl in the bed. Charlie's eyes were shut, her breathing robotic and her face looked to be in a severe amount of pain, if the girl could even feel anything at all._

 _Steve gave Brynn an encouraging nod and Sydney's mother leaned down, baring her teeth and resting the tips of her canines against the tiny girl's shoulder._

 _Sydney heard her suck in a breath before she clamped down, breaking the skin and drawing blood out of the fresh puncture wounds. She watched with a sick fascination, her mother helping out her newest beta, keeping Steve's only daughter alive without asking for anything in return, at least not yet._

 _Less than a minute later, Brynn pulled back and wiped at her mouth with the back of her arm, remnants of blood getting onto the supple leather of her jacket sleeve. Steve looked at the bite mark on his daughter's shoulder for a few seconds before bringing his attention back up and gazing at Sydney's mother._

" _Did it work?" Steve asked in a whisper._

" _If it didn't work, she won't be alive much longer." Brynn replied somberly and extended her hand towards Steve's._

 _Sydney watched as her mother took hold of his hand and forced it away from Charlie. She then replaced his hand with hers, gently squeezed the little girl's fingers in her own and drew out her pain, Brynn's veins turning a black shade as she let Charlie's pain into her own body, where she could fight it off._

" _Thank you." Steve murmured and Brynn gave him a nod, acknowledging that she had heard him._

" _You shouldn't thank me yet, if the bite takes, she's got a world of trouble ahead of her. If it didn't then she's no better off than she was when I came in here."_

 _Sydney felt her heart swell at her mother's words. She had remembered that her mother had always been a decent person but there was something that tugged at her heart as she watched her mother trying to save the one-year-old Charlie lying nearly lifeless in the hospital bed._

" _You've given her a chance at least." Steve remarked and slowly Brynn drew out a little more of the tot's pain before releasing her hand. She tucked her hands into the pockets on the front of her jacket, flashed him a small smile and took a step away from the bed._

" _I hope that she pulls through." Brynn said softly and Sydney watched as her mother headed for the door, leaving Steve all alone in the room next to the bed, clutching Charlie's hand in his own._

" _Wait!" He called out as Brynn made a move to cross through the doorway and back out into the hall. "I don't even know your name!"_

" _It's better that way."_

 _Sydney's heart nearly stopped at the sight of her mother smiling, truly, genuinely smiling one more time. She reached her hands out towards her mother but the room began to swirl, the walls seemed to melt and when she looked towards the window, the moon was rising up into the sky._

A gasp erupted from both girls as Sydney's claws retracted from Charlie's neck, the young beta was sent reeling backwards, Aidan acting just fast enough to keep her from falling right over. Sydney lifted her hand into the air and flexed her fingers a few times before locking her eyes on Steve.

"What? Did you see the right memory?" Steve asked and leaned back, moving away from Sydney, who was almost glaring at him now.

The words got caught in her throat and she swallowed the lump that had formed there. With a shake of her head, her expression relaxed but her eyes never left Steve's face.

"I think so." She nodded, her voice barely louder than a whisper as her heart picked up in speed. "The alpha that bit your daughter, it was…it was my mom."

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _5 reviews in a day, okay, you guys deserve another chapter so here you go!_**

 ** _You guys have just found out a key piece of the puzzle, the woman that bit Charlie was Sydney's mom! How did you like the newest chapter?_**

 ** _Thank you for the reviews, the follows and the favourites!_**

 ** _sarahmichellegellarfan1: I can't say for sure about Peter showing back up but he will not be forgotten. I don't want to say too much for fear that it might give something away, but bear with me, please_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: yes, nothing better than a Dragon baby!_**

 ** _Guest: she'll be back with them soon and when she gets back with them, it's going to go down!_**

 ** _cecld16: her and Scott's pack are far from finished dealing with each other_**

 ** _Xhex1: Sydney would benefit greatly from Charlie and her dad is definitely an asset to them!_**


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 6** **:**_

Steve had lifted his hands up in surrender, hoping that the alpha in front of him would give him time to explain. Charlie looked from Sydney to her father, a worried expression etched on her face, but once her dad shook his head no, implying there was nothing to worry about, she relaxed on the couch, hoping that everything would be explained to her soon enough.

"You had my mom bite Charlie." Sydney pointed out, her tone soft, almost disbelieving of the information she had just gained.

"I uh, I wasn't aware she was your mother, honestly." Steve countered and cautiously lowered his hands. "I really had no idea"

The atmosphere in the room had gotten rather tense and he was fully prepared to try to loosen the tension, especially when he was outnumbered, three werewolves to one, against a human. There was no way he and Charlie would make it out of a fight unscathed, which was exactly what he was trying to avoid.

"Oh yeah, no I got that when you told her you didn't even know her name." Sydney spat out, sarcasm lacing her tone.

Aidan's hand came down and rested on her shoulder, giving it a rough squeeze as if to remind her that she wasn't alone in the room. She shook her head in response and let out a sigh, hoping to pull herself together before she lost all hopes of finding out more about her mother, the alpha who had turned Charlie.

"I was desperate." Steve pointed out in a low tone, Sydney looking over at him and studying the sadness that had seeped into his eyes. She peeled her eyes off the man and glanced at Charlie, who had a hand on the back of her neck, her fingers rubbing over her punctured skin.

"You let an alpha you didn't even know bite your daughter?" Ethan piped up, bringing all eyes to him. "I mean, I get that you were desperate but even I know that could've been way worse-"

"I knew enough." Steve cut in. "I asked a friend about the possibility of finding an alpha willing to turn Charlie, she was the one who showed up to do the job. Trust me, I thought it was a little sketchy myself but I was told she could be trusted and she didn't want anything in return."

"Now that you know she had a daughter of her own, it kind of makes sense." Charlie pointed out with a smile. "She'd know how desperate a parent could be, especially if a child was near death."

Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and dropped her gaze down to her knee, where her hand was resting, claws still out. She watched carefully as her sharp talons retracted and were replaced by blunt human finger nails in front of her very eyes. As soon as her claws had disappeared, there seemed to be a collective sigh that sounded out in the room, which brought her eyes back up to the people surrounding her.

Aidan's hand moved away from her shoulder and he took a step around the couch, dropping down to sit on the cushion behind her. Sydney leaned her back against him and let out a sigh, her entire body relaxing the tiniest little bit now that she was aware there was a reason why her mother had done the man the favour in the first place. She couldn't even begin to imagine how easy it would've been for her mother to relate to a desperate parent.

"If I had known who she was, I would've told you sooner." Steve offered up and shifted seats, taking up a position behind Charlie, similar to that of Aidan and Sydney. "I figured I didn't want to ask too much in case she somehow managed to gain leverage over me, if I owed her, then I wanted her to have to work to find me again. Not having a connection, or her name, made it easier to protect my daughter."

Sydney gave one firm nod of her head, signaling that she understood why. It still made her heart ache though, the sight of her very own mother in someone else's head, helping out a child in distress. Seeing Brynn Vance in all of her glory had showed Sydney something she hadn't seen in a while and now she fought against the urge to lunge at Steve, to sink her claws into his neck and seek out the memories he had of her mom.

"I miss her." Sydney murmured, sucking in a shaky breath. Aidan slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her tighter against him, sensing that his alpha was about to break.

As if she hadn't been dealing with enough without the added stress of now knowing her mother had played a part in her new beta's lifestyle.

"Your mother saved my daughter's life, she gave me back my world." Steve stated in a low tone, reaching out and offering Sydney his hand. She reached her own hand out and gently took hold of his, feeling the warmth from his palm against her cool skin.

He smiled at her and leaned forward, pushing Charlie closer to Sydney as he moved in. Aidan's grip on Sydney loosened and he quickly made his way to his feet, taking up residence on the edge of the coffee table before waving his brother over, who followed suit and dropped down beside him.

"I'd be honoured to be part of your pack, especially if your mother was the one that saved my life." Charlie broke in and reached out, taking Sydney's other hand. "I owe her my life and if she can't be here to thank personally, then what better person than _her_ very own daughter."

Sydney felt her cheeks flushing at the girl's words. Yes, who better than her to take in a stray werewolf created from her mother's bite? She could think of a few better options but part of her knew that this girl, this young werewolf in front of her very eyes, was possibly the last living connection she had to her mother. There wasn't anything that was going to stop her from keeping Charlie in her pack, especially if she came with a father who had information on her mother, even if it wasn't much at all.

"I'd love to have you in my pack." Sydney said and caught the twins both nodding along with her. A smile spread out over her face and she gave Charlie's hand a gentle squeeze before pulling her hands out of Steve and Charlie's grips.

"And if you want, I'd love to know more about your mom." Charlie pressed, watching Sydney's face carefully, searching for any hesitations in her expression.

"I don't remember all that much about her." Sydney confessed with a saddened sigh. "But I can try."

Charlie smiled at her new alpha and slapped her palms against her thighs. Quickly standing up, she gave her dad a gentle shove forward, forcing him closer to Sydney and into the spot she had just vacated.

"Let's move on before we all start to cry, yeah?" Charlie suggested and stepped around to the back of the couch, leaning over so that her head was just a few inches away from Steve's. "Let's get into my dad's head, see what secrets he's got hidden in his noggin."

Sydney snorted in amusement and straightened up on the couch. She forced her claws out and met Steve's eyes, silently asking him if he still wanted to do this. When his head nodded yes in response, she gingerly set the tips of her claws along his spine at the back of his neck before sucking in a nervous breath.

"Remember, focus on what you want me to see." Sydney reminded him, echoing the instructions she had given to Charlie earlier. "As much as I want to go poking around in your head, I'll save that for another time."

"I'd gladly let you." Steve smiled back at her and held his own breath, his eyes falling shut as she pressed her claws harder against his skin, but not hard enough to pierce into his flesh.

With a mental count to three, Sydney forced the tips of her claws into his skin, breaking the outer layer and feeling the warm blood trickling over her fingertips. She shut her eyes and let him take her into his head, a place that was full of memories, pictures blurring and coming into focus before disappearing once again.

After a few more memories had come into focus before fading away, she finally felt herself being pulled towards one specific picture in his head. Sydney let herself be drawn to it and before she knew it, the image in front of her was crisp and clear.

 _A younger version of Steve, who looked almost exactly the same as he did currently, was standing in the doorway of a dimly lit room. She caught sight of the walls, which were painted a light beige colour, wooden letters were mounted on the wall above an elaborately carved crib. She read the name there and felt a smile tugging at her lips. Apparently Steve's memory contained a darling little version of his daughter, even younger than the broken Charlie she had seen in the hospital._

 _There was a rocking chair in the corner of the room and when the person sitting in it finally caught Sydney's attention, it was easy to see that this woman was Charlie's mother, an unmistakable resemblance between the two._

 _The baby version of Charlie was tucked in the woman's protective hold, a bottle clutched in the woman's hand as Charlie sucked back the milk. Steve tiptoed closer to them, light on his feet so as not to startle the tiny little baby in the woman's arms._

" _You're going to have to let go of her eventually." Steve teased and closed in on the woman. A wedding band sparkled on the woman's finger and Sydney made the assumption that this woman was not only Charlie's mother but Steve's wife as well._

" _Never." The woman teased right back and began to gently rock the baby back and forth. "I don't want to_ _ **ever**_ _let her go."_

 _Steve dropped down into a crouch in front of the chair, his hands falling gently onto the woman's knees, his thumbs brushing across the denim of her jeans. He peered up at the two females, mother holding child, and smiled proudly. Leaning in towards his daughter, he pressed a gentle kiss against the side of the baby's head before retreating away from her, settling in to a kneeling position in front of his wife._

" _She's beautiful." Steve whispered, tearing his eyes off the baby only to glance up at his wife._

" _She's perfect." His wife countered._

" _She looks like you Marianne." Steve pointed out._

" _Thank god for that." The woman laughed but quickly tightened her grip on the baby, hoping that she hadn't been too loud for the newborn's ears. "I don't know what I'd do if she looked like you."_

" _You'd still love her." Steve nodded with a grin._

" _I would, just like I love you."_

 _Steve stood up and took a step around to the side of the chair, leaning over the woman's shoulder to get a better look at their child. His hand gently fell against her shoulder and she looked up at him, a smile permanently etched on her face. When he went in for a kiss, the room began to swirl and Sydney felt the picture around her fading away._

She sucked in a breath of air as her eyes opened, Steve letting out a grunt in response to her claws being forced out of his neck. Sydney pulled her hand away and studied her finger nails, which had reverted back to her human ones by this point. Blood was underneath the nails, staining the usual white tips to a gritty red, but she wasn't concerned, blood was expected when she went ahead and shoved her claws into human flesh.

"Uh oh." Steve muttered and caught Sydney's eyes.

"What?" Sydney was trying to keep herself calm, there was no need to panic, not yet anyways. Maybe his 'uh oh' was in regards to her having seen the wrong memory, or a memory that he hadn't intended for her to see.

"Well, uh, not to alarm you or anything but I can't…I can't move." As if to emphasize his concern, his face contorted and he let out a hiss.

She felt her stomach drop and her eyes widened at the sight. No, no she couldn't have possibly paralyzed Steve, could she?

Every other time she had tried to see into someone else's memory, she had one of the twins check her finger position but she hadn't this time, no, she had just gone ahead and done it. Had that mistake come back around to bite her?

"What are you talking about?" Charlie narrowed her eyes in on her dad before shooting a glare in Sydney's direction.

She certainly deserved the look, she had somehow managed to paralyze the girl's only living parent.

"Ha, I'm just kidding." Steve announced with a harsh laugh before relaxing his entire body. He lifted his arms into the air and waved them around to demonstrate that he was, indeed, joking about being paralyzed.

Sydney's heart was still pounding in her chest but she felt sweet relief flood her body, especially when the twins broke out into a fit of laughter, the two of them watching as the man who had tricked their alpha continued to wave his arms around. When Charlie's hand swung out and smacked the man on his shoulder, which put a stop to his flailing, Sydney jerked her body back, thankful that the impact was meant for her dad and not Sydney.

"Dad, you _can't_ just do stuff like that, especially when she doesn't really know you." Charlie scolded and smacked Steve on the shoulder for a second time. "You scared the shit out of us."

"Right." Steve nodded his understanding but the smile never left his face, he was clearly too amused by his own joke to let anyone really rain on his parade. "You're absolutely right, I shouldn't do stuff like that but come on, it _was_ a little bit funny."

Charlie shook her head no and stole a look at Sydney, who seemed to be frozen in fear. Clearly the alpha was scared, seconds ago she had honestly believed that she had managed to paralyze the man sitting in front of her, which would have made convincing Charlie that she was a decent alpha all the more difficult.

"She's pregnant too dad, remember? I _cannot_ believe you thought that was a good idea." Charlie groaned but Steve grabbed at her, pulling her forward and giving her a rough hug. When he let go, she huffed at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"My bad. Sorry Sydney, I totally forgot that I probably shouldn't stress you out in your condition." Steve apologized and Sydney managed a half-assed nod of her head in response.

If she was honest, she had forgotten that she was pregnant, or what Steve had called her 'condition', there for a little while anyways. It had been a nice feeling to get her head away from the situation at hand, and while his joke _had_ been cruel, it had definitely been effective and maybe it wasn't all bad after all. It had gotten her out of her own head and having a good time with other people.

"It's fine. Just don't do it again." Sydney replied but there was very little conviction in her voice.

"I'll try not to." Steve nodded his head.

"Good. Now, what did you see?" Charlie asked, turning from upset with her father to overly excited to hear about what he had shown her new alpha. Still leaning forward on the back of the couch, a grin present on her face which looked eerily similar to the grin Steve produced in the memory, she caught both Sydney and Steve's attention.

"You were a baby." Sydney answered hesitantly and held her hand out towards Aidan, who pulled a Kleenex out of the nearby box before making quick work of wiping the blood off her fingers. "You were in your room, in your mother's arms."

"You saw my mom?" Charlie stared at Sydney, a sparkle of wonder in her eyes. "Lucky."

"You look a lot like her." Sydney commented and forced a smile at the younger girl, memories of her own mother flooding her head. They clearly had way more in common than Sydney originally thought, both of them had lost their mothers, both of them were currently struggling to find a place to fit in, what other things did they share? Sydney didn't know yet but she was willing to find out.

"Do I?"

"Yeah." Sydney nodded and let out a laugh. "For that your mom would be very thankful."

Steve smirked at her too, knowing that she was referring to the teasing banter in his memory.

"You remind me of your mom every day." Steve added in quickly.

"You have your dad's grin though." Sydney pointed out, stifling the urge to burst out into a fit of laughter.

"I know that." Charlie added with an amused snort of her own. "You going to go into anyone else's memories tonight?"

Sydney took in a deep breath and held it before looking around the room at the people there. She shook her head no and pulled her fingers away from Aidan, who had cleaned them off as best as he could with just a Kleenex.

"I think maybe I've seen enough for one night." Sydney said softly. "But another time, maybe I'll even come up with something that _I_ can show _you_ , something from my own collection."

She motioned to her head and Charlie gave her a nod of understanding. Aidan let out a snicker and balled the blood covered Kleenex up into his palm before making his way into a standing position, Ethan following suit.

"We'll have to do this again sometime." Ethan remarked and gave Sydney a firm pat on the shoulder as he took off, walking out of the living room. Aidan mirrored his brother's actions but instead of merely patting her shoulder, he gave her arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze, then he too made his exit.

"I've been thinking about heading back to Beacon Hills, just to check in." Sydney stated and paused, taking her bottom lip in between her teeth. "I have a lot there and I was hoping to get some ideas for the property I have there, if you'd like, I'd love to take Charlie to California for a week or two and show her around?"

Charlie looked from her dad to Sydney and then back to her dad, a pleading look in her eye. Steve cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrow as he took in Sydney's offer.

"So long as it's only for a week or two, I think that might be a good idea." Steve replied but raised his hand as though he wasn't finished speaking. "However, I'd like to spend a little more time getting to know you."

Sydney nodded her head; that was certainly a reasonable condition. She wanted to get to know the two of them better too, she wanted to get back inside their heads, see if she couldn't lay her eyes on her mother again. She also wanted to show Charlie and Steve some things in her own head, but that would take some time to get used to.

"Come back for dinner next Friday, I can make whatever you want." Sydney offered.

"Oh yes please!" Charlie retorted, her eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree. "How are you at beef wellington?"

"Charlie." Steve shook his head with a chuckle.

"What, I've always wanted to try it." Charlie mumbled but Sydney's hand came to rest on her forearm.

"I'll certainly try to make beef wellington, but if it doesn't work out, how does stir fry sound?"

"Hey man, free food is good food." Charlie shrugged but the smile on her face said it all, the girl was excited for another home cooked meal.

"Okay." Sydney dropped her head down.

"But I'll see you before Friday." Steve pointed out and Sydney moved her eyes up, a confused stare on her face. "You have an ultrasound early next week and I'm supposed to see you in my office the same day."

Right, the ultrasound, how could she have forgotten about that? She held her breath and forced a smile at him, trying her hardest to keep herself composed. She was scared to death of the whole ordeal, finding out she was legitimately pregnant had her freaked out enough but now she was scheduled to go in and actually see, as well as hear, the baby growing inside of her.

"I'll be there." Sydney stated, trying to sound confident.

"Good. I'm sure everything will be fine." Steve commented, as though he could pick up on her reservations. Hell, she figured anyone could pick up on the fact that she was feeling pretty anxious about having a baby, it wasn't like she was very good at hiding it.

"Will I get to find out what it is?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"Doubtful, unless you're way farther along than I think." Steve answered and Charlie nodded along with him. "But we can always do another ultrasound later to find out."

"Right." Sydney sniffled and tried to keep herself calm, cool and collected. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes but was determined not to let them fall. "What if it's not a werewolf though, how does-"

"Whatever your baby is, werewolf, human, dragon or something else, I can promise you that I won't let you go through this alone. You seem to have good friends in the twins, now you've got my daughter to back you up, and I'm not going to just disappear. Whatever happens, we'll figure it out." Steve explained to her, his tone gentle and soothing.

Sydney swallowed the lump forming in her throat and dared to look up at him, her vision blurring slightly from the unshed tears.

"I'm scared." She admitted, her voice shaky.

"We're all scared of something." Charlie threw in and gently took hold of her hand. "We can only beat our fears by facing them."

Steve beamed proudly at his daughter's words and watched as the young wolf continued to hold Sydney's hand in an attempt to comfort her. The young alpha sitting in front of him had been nothing but good to him and Charlie since they had walked into her house and when she had stated that her mother had been the person to bring Charlie back from the brink of death, that had easily solidified his stance on Sydney's leadership.

Charlie belonged in her pack, she'd be safe with Sydney, and so long as the girl had everyone backing her up, she'd be the best alpha she could.

"We should get going." Steve broke the silent with a low, soothing tone.

Sydney let go of Charlie's hand and swiped at the tears that erupted from her eyes. She looked down at her lap, her ears tuned in to their retreating footsteps as Charlie and Steve disappeared out of the living room.

She heard the twins intercepting their guests in the front hall and she continued to listen carefully as Ethan and Aidan said their goodbyes, with promises to see them again soon, which was when Charlie brought up the next Friday and her hopes of trying beef wellington.

It wasn't until Sydney finally felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her shoulders that she gave in and let the sobs sound out in the house, her heart breaking once again.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Hey guys! Just to let you know that if I get enough reviews, I'll post the next chapter earlier!_**

 ** _Steve playing a prank on Sydney, cruel or funny?_**

 ** _Thank you for the reviews, the follows and the favourites!_**

 ** _sarahmichellegellarfan1: I'm glad you liked the last chapter!  
_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Charlie being bitten by Syd's mom just ties everything together :)  
_**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: It's coming! She'll get there soon and when she does, things will definitely get crazy!_**

 ** _Millenia-the-wings-of-valmar: You're right, how embarrassing on my end, Derek definitely made the kanima! Oh well, ha, yeah, both parents are wolves so that's the most logical choice. Yes! Sydney versus Theo showdown haha! Peter won't be forgotten and thank you so much for the lovely reviews!_**

 ** _94jbd1: Well thanks :) I hope you like this story too and thank you again for reading the other 2 stories, in 2 days (if I could give you a medal, I totally would)_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 7** **:**_

Ethan had grown concerned for his alpha, once he had voiced his worry to his brother, Aidan had seemed to take Sydney and her behaviour seriously. Nearly a week had passed since they had hosted Charlie and her father and once the night had ended, Sydney had turned quiet, too quiet in Ethan's honest opinion.

She hadn't said much to either twin since saying goodbye to her newest beta, even when asked, specifically about her ultrasound appointment, which had come and gone, before anyone really knew what was going on. Aidan had suggested trying to get into her head the same way she had done to Charlie but neither twin had mustered enough courage to try, no, for now, they'd wait her out. She'd have to say something eventually, right?

Ethan had taken up a seat at the table in the kitchen, his eyes scanning over the newest book in their bestiary research, as he tried to find anything that seemed even remotely relevant. Aidan had gone upstairs once the sun had set to lay with Sydney, whose withdrawal symptoms were no worse, nor did they seem better. She was still struggling to sleep soundly at night and the nightmares hadn't eased up at all. Ethan, as well as his brother, were terribly concerned for her well-being, but there wasn't much they could do about it.

His mind wasn't really in the research though and the longer Ethan sat at the table, the more anxious he became.

What had happened at her appointments? Had she gotten bad news? Maybe the doctor had figured out a way to determine whether or not the baby was anything supernatural and if it was, maybe it wasn't a werewolf. The idea of watching Sydney struggle to raise something she wasn't familiar with nagged at the back of Ethan's mind but he knew better than to push her.

She could get rather vicious when pushed and the impression Steve had given the twins was that she didn't need more stress than necessary. Ethan hoped that she'd talk to him, or even Aidan, sooner rather than later, they could help her, they could comfort her if she was upset, they could take care of her like she had taken care of them so many times before.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Ethan relaxed into the chair and glanced up at the ceiling. He focused his hearing in on the second floor and tried to listen in for Sydney's even breathing, which would mean that she had managed to fall asleep. No such luck, all he heard was footsteps, angry footsteps and they were getting louder, more prominent as whoever he had tuned into was loping down the stairs. When a second pair of equally frantic footsteps followed the first, he knew that both his brother and his alpha would show up in his line of sight soon enough, and he wasn't wrong.

Sydney strode into the kitchen and headed right for the fridge where she paused and leaned her forehead against the cool outer shell. Aidan stopped dead once he was inside the kitchen, his eyes meeting Ethan's with a concerned gaze, Ethan raised an eyebrow but Aidan merely nodded in Sydney's direction, the two brothers watching intently as she pulled a little rectangular piece of paper out of the front pocket on her jeans.

"What's that?" Ethan asked in a low tone, fearful that if he spoke too loud, he might spook her and scare her off.

"Something you should see." Sydney replied with a little shrug and Ethan pushed his chair back, standing up and wandering closer to the fridge.

Sydney grabbed a fridge magnet off the surface of the door, pressed the paper against it and put the magnet along the top edge, letting Ethan and Aidan see what she was posting in the kitchen. Ethan's eyes widened in realization and he took a step forward, slipping his arm around her back and gently tugging her against him, holding her in a comforting embrace.

His eyes studied the dark and light swirls carefully and he tried to locate anything within the picture that looked even remotely like a baby, or even a wolf, but the more he looked for it, the more the swirls blurred together. His grip tightened on her and she glanced to the side, catching the confused look on his face before lifting her arm up and using her index finger to make an invisible circle around a dark spot on the sonogram.

"What are you two looking at?" Aidan asked but slowly stepped forward, closing in on his brother and Sydney. He came up behind her and took up a stance on her other side, gently taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. She traced around the dark spot again and let out a nervous chuckle.

"That's my baby," She murmured and let her head gently drop against Ethan's shoulder, "my teeny, tiny little baby."

"Wait, this is the ultrasound?" Aidan questioned and Sydney gave him a firm nod of her head. Ethan's lips turned upwards into a smile and he leaned forward, moving closer to the picture to get a better look. "What is it?"

"A baby." Sydney answered nonchalantly and Aidan turned his head to face her, a slight glare directed right at her.

"But like, a wolf, a dragon, a human? Is it a boy or a girl?" Aidan pressed and Sydney tilted her head the tiniest little bit.

"Not sure what it is. The ultrasound tech didn't seem too concerned so I'm going to assume it looked relatively normal for a human but it's way too early to tell if it's a boy or a girl."

"How far along are you?" Ethan spoke up and Sydney let out a small sigh.

"She said around seven or eight weeks. I can go back in about two months and they can maybe tell me what the gender is, if the baby itself is cooperative." Sydney explained and shut her eyes, trying to imagine herself with a baby. She still had a good seven months to go but that didn't help her feel any better about it now.

At this present moment, she was still skinny, still fit and trim, what the hell was she going to feel like when she was bigger and more uncomfortable? Questions flooded her head: where was she going to put the baby once it was born? Would she prefer to stay in Colorado or would she make an attempt to raise her baby in Beacon Hills?

What gender would she have preferred her baby to be? Part of her imagined raising a little girl and every time she even considered the option of a little boy, she couldn't help but have her mind trail back to watching her very own daughter running around in the back yard.

"What are you hoping for?" Ethan asked in a hushed whisper and she opened her eyes, looking at the sonogram stuck to the fridge.

"A werewolf." She answered, her tone equally as low as his. She was afraid that if she spoke too loud, she might jinx the entire thing.

"But girl or boy?" Aidan threw in and gave her hand an encouraging squeeze.

"Um, I think maybe I want a girl." Sydney's tone was soft and Ethan proceeded to tighten his grip on her, proving that he was right there with her, he wasn't going to let her struggle with anything on her own. She let out a contented sigh and relaxed the slightest little bit, tugging Aidan closer to her so that he was pressed up against her other side.

"Have you thought of names yet?" Ethan inquired lightly, wanting to hear anything and everything that he could about the baby.

"Uh, no, not really. Up until I saw it on the screen and heard the little heartbeat, it didn't even feel real. Is that bad, that part of me didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes?" She countered, clearly feeling a flood of different emotions.

"No, it's not bad, I was just wondering." Ethan let out a chuckle and turned his head towards her, pressing a reassuring kiss against the top of her head. "I personally like the name Sydney Junior if it's a girl."

"Ha ha." She replied, sarcasm lacing her tone. "Real funny."

"You don't need a name for sure until you actually have the baby in your arms." Aidan pointed out but the smile on his face clearly signified that he rather enjoyed his brother's comment. "You've got some time."

"Yeah and in that time, I have to figure out where I'm going to put it and where I want to live."

"Considering your house in Beacon Hills was burned to the ground-"

"Oh my god, you're right!" Sydney cut him off and stiffened in his hold. She squirmed her body free of their grasps and turned around, heading for the table before flopping into one of the chairs and letting out a frustrated growl.

Aidan and Ethan followed her lead and sat down in the chairs on either side of her, trying to provide her with any bit of comfort that they could. She lowered her head to the table and sucked in a nervous breath, wondering what the hell sort of mess she had gotten herself into.

"Why don't you just rebuild it?" Ethan suggested and ran his hand across her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.

"Rebuild it?" She lifted her head up and faced Ethan, a confused expression on her face at his words. It sounded so simple coming out of his mouth but was that something she could do? And if she did manage to rebuild her house, would it be ready by the time her baby was born?

She knew one thing for sure, she wasn't going to be stuck in Peter's tiny little apartment with a newborn, so that was out of the question, but could she be comfortable enough in Colorado, with her pack, to raise a child? If that was the case, what about all of her friends back in Beacon Hills? Wouldn't the sheriff, and Stiles, want to see her again and would they not want to be part of her child's life? What about Parrish, he seemed like a decent ally to have, could she just leave everyone she knew, and cared about, clueless in California?

"Yeah, you said at dinner the other night that you wanted to take Charlie to Beacon Hills and show her around, why don't you set up a meeting with a contractor or something and get started on rebuilding your house there? You've got the time and if it's not quite ready by the time you want it to be, you can just stay here a little longer, if you even really want to go back there to start with." Aidan explained, his palm giving her arm a gentle pat.

"It's that easy?" She turned her attention in Aidan's direction, looking at him with the same confused expression that she had given Ethan seconds ago.

"Yeah, why not?" Aidan shrugged and Sydney shrugged right back at him. He did have a point, why couldn't it be that easy? She had the time, she had access to money, plus she had connections to Beacon Hills.

"Well if I rebuild in Beacon Hills, where would you guys end up?" She looked between them, studying their expressions for a few seconds and hoping that they'd be willing to go with her so long as she needed them.

"Wherever you want us." Ethan answered. "If Peter's going to be spending the rest of his life locked away in Eichen house, then we will stay with you, wherever you want to stay. If he gets out and you want us out of the way so you guys can all be a family, then we'll come back here. No matter what though, you're not going to lose us as pack."

"Really?"

"Really. Syd, you gave us a home when we had nothing, we owe you, a lot."

"No, I think at this point, we can call it even. You two have helped me out more than you could ever understand." She confessed and sat up straight, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well even if we are even, we're not going anywhere." Aidan stated firmly and tossed her a smile. "We're your pack and that's never going to change."

Sydney gave them a nod of her head to acknowledge that she had heard him but she didn't say another word. She let out a sigh, relaxed in the chair and forced a smile right back at Aidan.

"We could always put the baby upstairs with you, Ethan and I can move down into the basement and stay out of your hair, that is, if you want to stay here." Aidan suggested and Sydney raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, or if you want to do a rebuild in Beacon Hills, we could easily find somewhere else to live nearby." Ethan added quickly.

"Well I mean, you could stay in that house too, at least until I'm ready to let you guys step away." Sydney pointed out and suddenly the smile that she had forced at Aidan turned into a genuine grin.

"Whatever you want us to do, we'll do it." Aidan nodded.

"Good, then you two can help me clean out my grandparents' old bedroom." Sydney let out a laugh. "You don't have to move out of it right away but I think we should get rid of the stuff that doesn't need to be in there anymore, especially in the closet."

Ethan reached his hand over and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder, Aidan resting his palm on her knee before giving it a reassuring squeeze. She looked between them once again and felt the weight of the world lift off her shoulders.

"When were you planning on taking Charlie to Beacon Hills?" Ethan asked, breaking the blanket of silence that had fallen over them.

"As soon as Steve will let me." Sydney answered and let her eyes fall shut as she took a moment to breathe.

Before she knew it, everything would become a big, chaotic mess again and she was going to seize every second of peace she could get before that happened.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Making an attempt to sleep soundly through the night had failed once again, which left Sydney nearly wide awake, shivering and shaking. If this was what withdrawal from her mate was like now, she couldn't even begin to imagine how much worse it would be months down the road.

Instead of lying in bed, tossing and turning, she decided she was going to make the most of her inability to sleep. Within a few seconds she had tuned her ears into the rest of the house and easily pinpointed the location of the twins, what they were doing in the living room though, she didn't know for sure but she could make the guess that they were probably still trucking along at the bestiary they were attempting to put together.

She sat up in her bed and ran her hands over her face before catching a look at the clock. At just past midnight, it wasn't nearly as late as she had first believed, and hearing the twins still up wasn't as shocking. Part of her knew that they waited for her to call on them, that way she wouldn't wake them from their own slumber when she was suffering too much to handle by herself, but she'd never admit it out loud that she knew their plan all along. No, she preferred to pretend that nothing was wrong, that their schedules weren't mixed up because of her because eventually she would've like to be able to fall asleep on her own and sleep soundly through the night.

Sydney sucked in a breath and swung her legs over the edge of her bed, scooting forward so that the balls of her feet resided against the carpeted floor below. She hauled herself up, off the bed, and lifted her arms into the air, stretching the muscles out in a lame attempt to avoid them from shaking, but she could already feel the unsteadiness in her limbs. Maybe if she kept herself busy enough, she'd be able to keep herself from experiencing every single painful symptom that she had been dealing with every night since she had arrived in Colorado.

Turning around and pulling the covers up, she tucked them loosely under the pillows and made a move to grab the pajama shorts hanging over the end of the bed. Slipping the shorts on over her legs, she sucked in a breath and shook her head, trying to clear her mind.

If the twins were still up, and downstairs, well that meant that her grandparents' bedroom was currently empty and ultimately available for her to clean out. Yes, if she couldn't sleep, she'd do something productive, something that would only help her, and the baby, in the long run.

As swiftly as she could, she crossed the carpeted hallway and tiptoed into what had once been her grandparents' room. The twins had their stuff set up where they deemed it necessary, clothes were laid out on the dresser, phone chargers were plugged into the walls near the bedside tables, the bed that had once been a queen sized bed had been moved to the basement for storage and had been replaced with two smaller beds so that the twins could easily share the room.

She flipped the light on and stepped into the room, checking out what they had done since the last time she had been inside. Their beds were half made and there were a few articles of clothing residing on the floor but it wasn't really all that messy at all. She dropped her gaze to the floor and wondered what the hell she was going to do once her baby was born.

Was it acceptable to ask them to vacate the bedroom so that she could turn it into a nursery? Would the baby be better off set up in her room until it was older? Then there was the ever dreaded question that everything hinged upon: was she going to remain in Colorado and raise her child in the house she grew up in?

"Syd?"

She turned her body around and faced the doorway, listening as two sets of footsteps mounted the stairs. At Aidan's call of her name, she had been pulled back to reality, her mind back in the present as she considered why they were coming up the stairs, calling her name.

"In here." She called back and stepped into the bedroom, lowering her butt down so that she was sitting on the end of one of the beds. Her arms crossed over her chest and she looked straight ahead, her eyes locked on the closed door belonging to a closet that Sydney hadn't seen inside of in years.

"What are you doing?" Ethan asked as he rounded the corner, wandering into the room with Aidan trailing behind him.

"I uh, I couldn't sleep." She answered in a soft voice. "I thought maybe I'd look around, see if I could get started on cleaning out this room."

"It's the middle of the night." Aidan pointed out and pushed past his brother, moving quickly to take a seat next to her on the end of the bed.

"I know." She dropped her gaze to the floor and looked at her bare feet, wiggling her toes in the process. "I just think that if I can't sleep then maybe I could be productive."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Aidan replied and shot a look towards his brother, almost daring him to object.

"I'm not going to disagree but I just think there are bigger things to worry about, like getting you to sleep. You can't keep missing hours upon hours of sleep, it's not good for you."

"Or the baby." Sydney added in a murmur. "I know, I'm just…"

"Anxious?" Aidan supplied and she shook her head no.

"Excited?" Ethan tossed out and, once again, she shook her head no.

"Terrified." She said firmly and lifted her head back up, looking at Aidan for a few seconds before setting her sights on Ethan. "This is _terrifying_. I never wanted kids and now I'm pregnant with a kid whose father is currently residing in the nuthouse. What the fuck right?"

"She has a point." Aidan remarked and Ethan shook his head at the two.

"She does." Ethan hesitated but found himself agreeing too. " _But_ that doesn't mean she can just forfeit sleeping. There's no way that it's good for anyone, baby or not."

"Well, why don't you two help me for a little while, then I'll try to go to sleep?" Sydney offered and pushed herself off the bed. Both of the twins watched her as she headed for the closet and grabbed the knob, turning it so that the door swung open.

Sydney let go of the door, stepped just inside and went up on her tiptoes as she made a grab at the old boxes lining the top shelf. Ethan stepped up behind her, his chest pressing against her back, as he grabbed one of the other boxes, moved it over her head and made his way towards where his brother sat, Sydney following his lead with a box of her own in her hand.

"Do you have any idea what's in these?" Ethan questioned and sat down on the side of the bed before lifting the lid off.

"Uh, no, not exactly." Sydney shook her head and lifted the lid off her own box, her jaw dropping at the sight inside.

Aidan turned around and crawled up further onto the bed, his eyes dropping down to look into the box that Sydney had just opened. He stuck his hand in and grabbed the stack of pictures residing near the front. Once he had a firm hold on them, he lifted his arm out and began flipping through the photographs, most of which contained Sydney as a little girl, most likely before she had even ended up in her grandparents' care.

"What?" Ethan leaned forward to steal a glance at what had made Sydney's jaw drop but before he could get a good look, she lifted out a small stack of envelopes, which were tied together with a piece of brown twine.

"I think they're letters from my dad." She answered in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper. "From before he died."

Aidan continued to flip through the pictures in his hand, laying the photos on the bed once he had studied them enough. Ethan gently grabbed them as he set them down, looking at the toddler smiling in most of the photographs. He paused and looked back at Sydney, who had slipped the twine off the stack of letters and was now flipping through those.

"Here, this one's pretty old looking." She announced and pulled out a yellowing envelope from the stack, carefully pulling an aged piece of paper from inside.

As carefully as she could, she unfolded the letter and checked for a date, finding one at the top of the page. She furrowed her eyebrows but moved her eyes down the paper, reading her dad's messy chicken scrawl as she went.

"When's that from?" Aidan asked and flipped through a couple more pictures, stopping as he caught sight of little baby Sydney cradled in the one arm of a young boy, another baby residing in his other arm. He flipped the picture over, looking for a date, names, something, and when he read what was written there in loopy cursive writing, he immediately shoved it at Sydney, who was clearly distracted by the letter in her hand.

"My dad sent my grandma this letter the day I was born. This is my birth announcement." She murmured, more to herself than anyone. "There's a blurry picture glued to the page, I think it's me as a baby."

Ethan gently took hold of the top of the letter, Sydney relinquishing her hold as she handed it over. Ethan looked at the blurry picture and let out a little chuckle, clearly amused by the baby in the photograph, glued to the letter. Aidan rolled his eyes and jerked his arm towards Sydney again, this time she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and took hold of the picture in his hand.

She stared at it, looking at her as a baby before a smile broke out on her face. She studied the baby in the boy's other arm and furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why the baby looked so familiar. She shook it off and finally looked at the young boy holding the two babies but it was hard to make out his face since he was looking down at the tots in his arms.

"Turn it over." Aidan advised and watched with a smile as she flipped the photograph over in her hand.

"No way." She gasped and memorized the words written on the back of the photograph which were clearly put there by her mother. "This is me, Derek and Peter."

"So it says." Aidan grinned and motioned for her to turn it back over. "Peter's holding you two wee little babies, isn't that cute?"

Sydney could tell that he was teasing her a little bit but she couldn't help but stare at the picture, her eyes locked on the boy, Peter apparently, who was holding her and baby Derek with great care.

"Are there more pictures?" She asked without tearing her eyes off the one in her hand.

"Not with Peter or Derek." Aidan shook his head and offered her the last few photos that he had in his possession. "Lots of you with your mom and dad though."

Sydney gave him a nod, acknowledging that she understood him. Her eyes were still glued on the photo in her hand, her index finger running along the edge. Sucking in a nervous breath, she gently set the picture on the bed and grabbed the stack of letters, searching for more information on her parents, or even her grandparents.

"Did you want me to get the other boxes down, I can take them to the living room?" Ethan offered and made a move to get up but Sydney's hand shot out, stopping him mid movement.

"Can you take them to my room instead?" She asked in a hushed whisper. "I promise I'll try to sleep tonight, after I've read a few more letters. Please?"

Ethan bowed his head and continued to make his way off the bed. Aidan quickly gathered up the loose photos residing on the covers before tucking them into the box. He then stood up, grabbed the open box and lugged it across the hall into her room before returning for the second open box.

She continued to study the picture, as she picked it up and held it in her possession, for a few seconds longer before cautiously climbing off the bed. She shook her head and tore her eyes off the people in the photo and immediately headed for her own room, Ethan following soon after with the last remaining boxes from the closet, three in total. He gently placed them on the floor next to her bed and smiled as she sat down, running her hand over the dust covered lid of the box on the top of the stack.

"When you two come to bed, can you check on me?" She questioned, her voice laced with anxiousness.

"Of course." Ethan chirped in response and gave his brother a nod, waiting at the side of her bed for Aidan to join him. "We shouldn't be too much later, I just wanted to see if I could find some more information on Emissaries before I called it a night."

"Sounds good." Sydney nodded and hesitantly set the picture of her, Peter and baby Derek on her nightstand. "Thanks."

"No problem." Aidan countered and happily left the room, a smile on his face at their recent discovery.

Ethan hung back for a few more seconds and stole one last glance at the picture on her bedside table. When he looked at her, she was already rifling through the box with the letters in it.

Without bothering her, he gave her a smile and disappeared from her room with the promise that he'd check on her before he turned in.

Part of him knew that she'd be having more trouble sleeping tonight than any other night before: there was far too much she didn't know that she could potentially find the answers too in the boxes, Ethan just prayed that nothing bad would come from it.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Here's an update for you guys! Thanks so much for the reviews!_**

 ** _Oh the twins and Sydney are such a cute little pack, don't you think? How'd you like the little glimpse into her past?_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: cruel and funny, it can certainly be both!_**

 ** _cecld16: Sydney won't think too highly of anyone that Stiles isn't too fond of either! Sydney is wholeheartedly behind Stiles, no matter what!_**

 ** _Xhex1: Thank you so much! It's coming, I swear lol_**

 ** _sarahmichellegellarfan1: :) thank you so much!_**

 ** _Jenny:Why thank you! I hope you continue to think that!_**


	8. Chapter 8

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 8** **:**_

It hadn't taken quite as much convincing on Sydney's part in order to get Steve to approve her road trip to Beacon Hills with Charlie but nonetheless, the man was still laying out his terms, even mere minutes before they were about to load into the car and take off. The twins were staying right where they were at the house in Colorado, in fact, Sydney and them had decided that it was the perfect opportunity to start moving things around in her grandparents' old bedroom.

The ultimate idea was to get the twins moved down from the second story of the house and onto the main floor or basement. There was a small room on the main floor that was currently set up as an office, a room which Sydney hadn't dared to disturb seeing as it hadn't been touched since her grandfather was still alive, but she had let the twins talk her into updating the room.

The office was unused, which meant it was space that was being wasted, if one of the twins, if not both of them, could somehow manage to clear it out and get it set up as a bedroom, then that was all the better. Other than that, both Aidan and Ethan would have to make themselves comfortable in the basement rooms, which were in desperate need of a clean-out themselves.

In addition to talks being had with Aidan and Ethan, Sydney had been sitting down with Steve and Charlie more as well. It had been just over a week since she had them over for lasagna and in that time, she had made them two more exceptional homemade meals, the two of them staying well into the early stages of night. Charlie was immediately excited over the prospect of going on a road trip to Beacon Hills, California, and when Sydney had pressed the two for more information, Steve had confessed that she hadn't really been on a vacation, at least not without him and rarely for more than a night or two.

But that wasn't the case this time, no, Sydney had planned it out, they would be gone for about a week, four days were allotted for the journey there and back, and then the other days would be left open for the alpha to show her newest beta her life in California. She'd contact the important people that she had left behind and arrange meetups where possible, which meant that she'd introduce Charlie to the people that she was missing more and more with each passing day.

As the five of them stood in the driveway to Sydney's grandparents' house, the car loaded up with the girls' bags, it was hard to watch Steve fight back the emotions that were taking over at the idea of having to say goodbye to his little girl, even if it _was_ only temporary.

Sydney had always envied people who had parents who cared enough to get worried when their children took off and the scene in front of her tugged at her heartstrings. Her mind drifted to her future, the image of her own child running around the house as Sydney did her best to never let the child out of her sight. She didn't want to miss a single thing, she didn't want her own child to live the life that she had, without a loving parent around.

"You behave okay, and do everything that Sydney asks you to." Steve instructed and Charlie, who was pretending she wasn't just as emotional, nodded her understanding. "If you two get into any sort of trouble, call me, I don't care if you think I'll be mad or disappointed, I just want you two to get back here in one piece."

"Got it dad." Charlie said back to him and glanced back at Sydney, who was standing next to the driver's side of her car, leaning against it with her arms over her chest.

The twins were hanging around a few feet away, Ethan's eyes studying Sydney's form, searching for any hint of uneasiness. He knew that the idea of going back to Beacon Hills caused Sydney to be a little anxious but part of him figured she was more excited that she was letting on. Her friends were there, people that she was close to were there and most importantly, Peter was there too. Whether or not she'd get to see him, Ethan had no idea, and he wasn't even sure she really wanted to.

Getting into Eichen House would prove to be the primary obstacle and it wasn't an unknown fact that Peter was well within the restricted areas, but did that mean he wasn't allowed visitors, and even if he was, would Sydney even try to get near him?

"You be careful too." Aidan's voice broke Ethan out of his thoughts and before he had a chance to get in front of his brother, Aidan stepped forward and drew Sydney into a tight, reassuring hug. "Don't try to be the hero if you don't have to be, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Sydney's lips turned upwards into the tiniest little smile and Aidan squeezed her extra tight before backing off, pulling away from her to let Ethan hug her instead. Ethan closed the distance between him and her and felt her let out a sigh as she relaxed in his hold.

"You going to try to see Peter?" Ethan asked in a hushed tone, his lips mere inches from her ear. While the rest of the people, minus Steve, were werewolves and could probably still hear him, he wanted to at least try to be discrete about his question, at least until he could properly gauge her reaction.

"In Eichen House?" Sydney shot back and leaned away from him. Ethan reluctantly released his hold on her and took a step towards his brother, putting more space between him and his alpha. "Uh, I wasn't planning on it, but that's banking on him still being in there to start with. You know Peter well enough to know that it's very possible he's already out."

"It's possible sure but I don't think he is." Aidan piped up and when Ethan and Sydney both looked at him with a curious glance, he shrugged at them.

"Why don't you think he is though?" Sydney questioned and stole a glance back at Charlie, who was in the middle of her own conversation with her father. "He's capable of escaping, isn't he?"

"I mean, sure, if he wanted to but I think if he was already out, he'd be here. It's not hard to track another werewolf and even if he did lose your scent, he _knows_ that you have a place here in Colorado." Aidan explained. "If he got out, the first place he'd go would be home, you wouldn't be there, obviously, and your scent would be weak."

"Oh." Sydney dropped her eyes to the ground and considered Aidan's theory. Maybe it was just her hoping that he was free, maybe it was the fear of going through the next few months alone, whatever it was though, she had just lost almost all of the hope she had built up surrounding Peter and his slim chance at potential freedom.

"Even if he _is_ still in Eichen House, I can guarantee you that not a day goes by where he doesn't think of you." Ethan added quickly and watched her closely, waiting for her to perk up even the tiniest bit. She nodded her head instead and let out a soft sigh before bringing her eyes up, away from the ground.

Charlie was heading right for her and when she got within a few feet of her new alpha, Sydney threw a smile on her face, the excitement of the road trip trumping her sadness over Peter and his imprisonment.

"Almost ready?" Charlie asked and reached her hand out, gently running her palm down Sydney's bicep. Steve moseyed over and took a stance behind Charlie, setting his own hands on his daughter's shoulders in a protective manner.

"Yes, definitely." Sydney remarked and tipped her head to the side, motioning for Charlie to get into the car. When her new beta peeled her hand off her arm, Sydney sucked in a breath and met Steve's piercing gaze.

Charlie moved out of her father's grasp and practically skipped around the end of the car before pulling the passenger door open and climbing inside. When the door slammed shut, Steve opened his mouth to get in his final words but Sydney was quicker.

"I'm not going to let anything bad happen to her, and I won't do anything stupid that will put her in danger. She's my responsibility and I will do everything in my power to keep her in one piece _and_ breathing."

Steve's lips turned up into a smile and he planted his hands on his hips. The twins looked between the two, Aidan shaking his head at the exchange while Ethan merely watched on in amusement: it wasn't too often that a human could get Sydney to submit as easily as she had when it came to the man's daughter.

"Good." Steve said. "Remember though, she's still a minor and as much as she thinks she knows everything, there's quite a lot that she _doesn't_ know. If she gives you any trouble, don't hesitate to call me. Even if there's a thousand miles between me and her, she'll listen to me."

"Okay." Sydney nodded her understanding. "Thank you."

"For what?" Steve cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"For letting me take Charlie with me. I know that it's hard to let go of her, even temporarily, but it means a lot that you trust me enough to take her with me, especially to a place that's so far away." Sydney answered honestly. "You could've easily said no when I asked if you'd let me take her on a road trip, hell you could've turned me down that day I walked into your office looking for help, but you didn't. That means everything to me and I hope that one day I can repay you."

"Well," Steve paused and glanced over at the twins, considering his next few words, "so long as you keep her safe on your trip, _and_ as long as you keep cooking us dinner, I think we can call it even. Truthfully, I'm glad that Charlie can have a female role model in her life and it's definitely better because I already see how strong you are."

"Thanks." Sydney scoffed but found herself smiling genuinely at the man. "If you need anything while we're gone, you can use my pack."

Steve took in the sight of the twins, standing a few feet away in all of their glory. If it had meant everything for him to let Charlie go with her, then it meant just as much for her to offer him the services of the twins, if he ever needed them. To trust a person with pack was like trusting a person with family, hell, maybe Sydney and Steve weren't in that different of a situation at all.

She leaned forward and took a few steps closer to Steve, opening her arms as she moved. He accepted her embrace and held her right back, letting her know that it was okay, everything would be okay. When the two of them parted, Sydney gently pulled the door on the car open but she hesitated, instead of getting inside, she leaned against the top of the doorframe, taking in the sight of the three males standing next to each other on the edge of her driveway.

"Be careful." Sydney stated and locked her eyes on the twins. "Don't be doing anything I wouldn't do."

"Then we can basically do anything." Aidan shot back with a teasing grin and Sydney let out a chuckle.

"Yeah, pretty much." She shook her head and lowered herself down, slipping into the seat of the car. Once she was sitting comfortably, she brought her seatbelt across and buckled herself in.

Producing the keys from the front pocket on her jeans, she put it into the ignition and turned, rolling down her window before finally shutting the door, the two girls securely inside the vehicle.

"Have fun!" Ethan called out over the sound of the purring engine.

Charlie leaned over so she could get a good last look at her dad before lifting her hand up and waving frantically. Sydney smiled at the three of them, put the car into reverse and eased out of the driveway.

Once they were on the road in front of the house, she gunned it, the car taking off and seconds later disappearing from sight. Steve dropped his head down and looked at the ground, wondering what he was supposed to do now that Charlie was gone for the next week. When a hand clapped him on the back of the shoulder, he brought his attention up and met the gaze of one of the twins.

"What do you say we order a pizza?" The twin offered and Steve could only nod his head.

Maybe being away from Charlie wouldn't be so bad after all.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney had been driving for hours and in that time she had quickly realized that she liked Charlie, she genuinely adored the girl sitting in the passenger seat filling up the car with her constant chattering. It was the first time she had really found herself liking another female and wanting to spend more time with her, yes, Charlie was quickly turning into someone that Sydney could call a friend.

"And then there was the time that my dad accidentally spilled the mountain ash, I couldn't get near the couch for a week!" Charlie laughed loudly and pulled Sydney out of her own head. Sydney tore her eyes off the road and glanced over at her comrade for a quick second before looking right back at the road.

"Didn't he clean it up?" Sydney asked and smiled along with Charlie.

"He did, for the most part, but he missed some of it." She chuckled and wiggled in her seat. Charlie's attention turned towards the scenery outside, the sky a darkening blue as night began to fall. "Got zapped every time I tried to sit down."

"Ouch." Sydney snickered and arched her back, trying to alleviate the strain in her muscles from sitting and driving for so long. "Your dad sounds awesome!"

"He is." Charlie nodded her agreement and turned her head, looking at Sydney with a nervous expression on her face. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay," Charlie sucked in a breath and Sydney easily felt the atmosphere of the car turn from fun and jokes to total seriousness. Whatever Charlie was about to ask her was clearly something important.

"Before you say anything, what do you say we find a hotel and stop for the night?" Sydney cut in and stole a quick glance at Charlie.

"Sounds good to me." Charlie answered and Sydney turned her head from side to side, scanning the sides of the road and looking for a sign for a reputable hotel.

"Okay, I'll pull off at the next city."

"Okay."

Sydney didn't say a word and let the car fall silent. She was waiting for Charlie to ask whatever it was that she wanted to ask but after a good thirty seconds of her not saying anything, Sydney knew that she was going to need a little coaxing. If the girl next to her was having a hard time simply asking Sydney something, then whatever it was going to be was potentially something that made Sydney a little uncomfortable.

She opened her mouth in an attempt to get Charlie to speak again but the young girl riding shot gun threw her arm out in front of her and waved it about frantically. Sydney followed her fingers and noticed the bright sign up ahead planted in the ditch on the side of the highway.

"Super 8, those are decent." Charlie exclaimed and Sydney found herself a little bit excited at spending the night in a hotel, maybe she'd even be tired enough to sleep through the night.

"Okay, I'll pull off." Sydney let out a sigh and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "What was it that you wanted to ask me?"

"Well, when you first came in to see my dad, you didn't seem very excited about your baby, I guess I just wanted to know why not?" Charlie asked, choosing her words carefully. She didn't want to outright accuse Sydney of not wanting the baby, she didn't know all of the facts and those that she did know she could use to make assumptions, but Charlie hadn't ever really seen a woman who wasn't even a little bit excited about being pregnant.

"Right. That's a decent question and I guess you deserve an answer, so…I guess it's hard to get excited about a baby that I never really wanted." Sydney answered and immediately realized how awful she had sounded. She sucked in a breath and pressed on, "That came out wrong, ugh, okay, let me try this again."

"You don't have to, we can move on to another topic of conversation if you don't want to talk about it."

"No, no, it's fine. It's just, when I was still with Peter, we sort of concluded that we didn't want kids. I was pretty adamant on the issue and he agreed that kids wouldn't be that good of an idea."

"He doesn't want kids? And neither do you?"

"Funny right considering he already has one." Sydney tried to smile, she was doing everything she could to keep her tone light and teasing, but the more she thought about Malia and her own current predicament, the more she felt saddened over her baby.

"A little." Charlie giggled slightly but Sydney knew that it was out of sympathy rather than genuine amusement.

"I think I'm just terrified." Sydney breathed the words out and kept her eyes glued on the road in front of them. She could just make out the turn off up ahead and she knew that soon she'd be out of the car.

"Well that makes sense." Charlie agreed. "He's not with you, you're going through this all by yourself, I can't imagine that being pregnant is all that comfortable either."

"Yeah, I don't think I'm all that far along though so I don't have it that bad…yet."

"True."

"But the withdrawal is killing me." Sydney sighed. "If I'm not hot, then I'm freezing, I wake up shaking all the time and every single muscle in my body aches."

"Yeah, no I can see how that wouldn't be fun. You seem like the type of girl who'd just want her pregnancy to be over with rather than the type of girl who _enjoys_ being pregnant."

Sydney nodded her head and flipped her blinker on, merging onto the off ramp in the process. She handled the car around the lane and cautiously moved onto the road belonging to the little town they were hopefully going to be spending the night in.

Charlie relaxed in her seat and watched as buildings began filling her vision. There were plenty of restaurants, a few gas stations, even a little strip mall that they drove past on their way to the Super 8. The car was silent as Sydney drove on, getting closer and closer to their sanctuary for the night.

It wasn't until she pulled into the parking lot of the hotel that Charlie even bothered speaking again. When the car came to a complete stop in the parking lot, Charlie popped her seatbelt and shifted forward on the seat.

"I totally didn't realize how bad I had to pee until now." Charlie laughed and opened her door.

Sydney couldn't agree more with the girl but she stayed quiet and followed suit, opening her own door and stepping out on the asphalt, wandering around the front of the car and falling in step next to Charlie, who had grabbed Sydney's wallet out of the car.

The two of them then made their way around to the trunk of the car, which Sydney popped with her key fob, and gathered up their luggage, a suitcase for either girl. Sydney shut the trunk and took her wallet out of Charlie's extended hand, the two of them walking side by side into the hotel.

Charlie had veered off to look at the vending machines while Sydney worked on checking them in. After nearly ten minutes, Sydney called Charlie over and the two of them continued into the hotel, making their way to the elevator.

Once they were inside and heading up to the third floor, Charlie let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the side of the elevator, Sydney laughing at her actions. She wasn't going to say anything, at least not until Charlie mentioned it, but she was glad that they had decided to stop when they did; all of Sydney's sleepless nights were starting to wear on her and she just hoped that she could get a decent amount of sleep that particular night.

"Did you want to go out for food or…?" Charlie asked but let her sentence trail off.

"I can eat, let's just get settled in, pee, maybe have a shower, then we can head out, is that cool?" Sydney countered and glanced over at Charlie, who nodded her agreement.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, the two girls stepping out into the hall and heading to the right. Sydney held the keycard in her hand and shoved it into the lock on their room, the greenlight lighting up and letting them inside. Charlie trailed behind Sydney as she wandered inside, her eyes looking around and taking in the sight of a queen sized bed and a couch. Someone wasn't going to be getting a bed that night.

"You can have the bed, I'll take the couch. The guy at the desk told me that it pulls out, sheets are in the closet." Sydney offered and closed in on the couch, dropping her suitcase to the floor by her feet.

"No way, you're driving and you paid for the hotel, you can have the bed." Charlie shot back. "Speaking of paying, I can cover you for half-"

"Don't worry about it, I've got plenty of money, plus Peter's loaded."

"Okay, fine then but you're still taking the bed." Charlie leveled a playful glare on Sydney, who shook her head in amusement.

"I don't even really sleep at night anyways, you can have the bed."

"Wait, you don't sleep? But, why?"

"The withdrawal I think. I get really bad nightmares too so even when I manage to _get_ to sleep, it's not that great." Sydney explained and turned around, lowering herself down to sit on the couch.

"Right." Charlie looked around the room and took in the sight.

It wasn't anything super fancy but it was clean and set up nicely. She hadn't even been in a hotel without her dad and the excitement of the road trip was almost overwhelming now. She was going to be spending a week, give or take a few days, with Sydney, no Steve in sight.

"We can share the bed." Sydney suggested and Charlie whipped her head around to look at her new alpha. "Like a slumber party."

"I haven't had a slumber party in forever!" Charlie squealed and took off in a run, jumping up and landing on her stomach on the bed. Sydney laughed at her and stood up, mirroring her actions but landing next to her on the bed, the two of them turning to face each other. "I was never all that big into having friends."

"Me neither." Sydney laughed. "I've got you now."

"Yeah, and I've got you, Syd- may I call you Syd?"

"Of course."

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Charlie beamed at her and Sydney could only smile in response.

Yes, it certainly was and Charlie couldn't have been more right.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Thank you so much to those of you that reviewed, favourited and alerted! You guys are awesome!_**

 ** _Girl bonding on their road trip! How are you guys liking the whole Sydney/Charlie friendship?_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Ethan is totally her second in command, although Aidan might believe he is, Syd knows Ethan has more of a level head_**

 ** _sarahmichellegellarfan1: Not too sure ;) thanks for sticking with me though_**


	9. Chapter 9

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 9** **:**_

 _The chilled metal gripped her neck like a vice and she could feel the sharpened edges digging into her neck. The smell of her own blood flooded her nostrils and Sydney cautiously lifted her hands up, making a grab for the restraints around her neck._

 _Her fingers prodded at the collar and she winced as she jarred the bladelike edges deeper into her already wounded flesh. Blood trickled out of the cuts and she winced slightly before driving her fingers between the collar and her neck. With everything she had, she tried to pry it apart but alas, the collar wasn't budging; whoever had managed to imprison her clearly knew what they were doing._

 _With a loud huff of frustration, Sydney freed her fingers from underneath the metal edge and let her arms drop down, her palms pressing against the hard stone floor that she was perched on. She ran her fingers along the seams of the stones and jerked her arm back when the back of her hand brushed against something furry._

 _Sydney immediately squeezed her eyes shut and sucked in a breath, trying to focus her energy on getting her alpha vision to come out. She also tried to keep her breathing in check, if she could keep herself somewhat calm, then maybe she could figure out a way to get herself free._

 _Her eyes opened and glowed red, giving her the advantage that she needed in the darkened room. She looked in the direction of where she had brushed her hand against the soft fur and when her eyes fell on the animal lying there she fought off the urge to shriek._

 _The animal, wolf-like in appearance, had glowing blue eyes and it didn't take her much more than a few seconds to determine that she knew who those eyes belonged to. Her eyes scanned over the rest of the canine and she instantly noticed that the beast was taking rapid shallow breaths, as though it were wounded and quite badly to boot._

" _Hey." She murmured and leaned forward, planting her palms against the floor and crawling a few inches closer. "Peter?"_

 _The beast whimpered but when it turned its head, Sydney fought off the urge to smile. After being away from him for so long, here he was, right next to her, and if she could just manage to get them both free, then he'd be in her possession for the rest of her life._

 _Gingerly extending her hand out, she rested her palm against the animal's broad shoulder, her finger tips prodding through his fur and searching for injuries. There had to be a reason he was struggling to breathe, animals, especially werewolves, didn't just lay down and die for no reason._

" _Peter, can you hear me?" She whispered and lowered her body down to the floor, pressing her chest against the stone and sliding closer to him. The beast turned its head towards her and let out a snort as she curled up against his side. "Can you…can you shift?"_

 _Her eyes were wide as she watched his snout blur between that of a beast and the face of a man. When the shifting stopped though and she was still looking at a mutant canine face, she let out a sigh of frustration and shook her head. Well then, this was clearly her rescue mission and if she could just figure out how to get them out of their shackles, maybe they stood a chance._

 _Sydney ran her hand down the beast's back and pulled her hand away as she felt a wetness. She lifted her hand up and sniffed, taking in the scent of more blood, this time it clearly belonged to Peter's quasi-wolf form next to her. Okay, so they were both bleeding, he seemed worse off than she was, but he was still breathing, which was evident by his loud, raspy breaths echoing in their prison._

" _Peter I need you to…" Sydney paused and considered what she needed him to do. She needed him be okay, she needed him to help her get them out of there but most importantly, she needed him to understand her, she needed him to be able to communicate with her. "We have to get out of here."_

" _Well that's not going to happen."_

 _She never had a chance to look for whoever the voice belonged to because before she even knew what was happening, a bright white spotlight was directed right at them. Sydney lifted her arm up and shielded her sensitive eyes, her body tensing as the wolf-like form next to her let out what she could only imagine was supposed to be a snarl. It was definitely more of a whimper and she knew that wherever they were, Peter wasn't going to last much longer unless she could get them out of there._

" _What do you want?!" Sydney called out and cautiously lowered her arm away from her eyes, blinking rapidly in an attempt to cease the pain in her vision from the invading rays of the bright white light. "Let us go!"_

" _Come on now Vance, you of all people should know that I can't do that."_

" _Kate?!" Sydney growled and crawled forward a few inches, trying to shield Peter's injured wolf form with her own body. "What are you doing?"_

" _Something I should've done a long time ago. See I knew when I reached out to Peter that you'd somehow manage to screw it up, I guess you could say that I'm going to finally get what's mine."_

 _Sydney bared her teeth and forced out her sharp canines, a feral growl erupting from her mouth. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and tried to make her way to her feet, however, as soon as she was on her knees, she felt a hard force against her chest, which sent her backwards._

 _Her eyes immediately snapped upwards and she found herself looking into the glowing eyes of Kate Argent, the one and only werejaguar, but this time there was something more ferocious about her, something that almost scared Sydney._

" _Someone once told me that you have to tame your demons." Kate drawled and sauntered forward, closing in on Sydney. Sydney tried to fill her lungs with oxygen but Kate's blow had winded her, rendering her weak for the time being. She made a move to get closer to Peter but Kate's arm lifted upwards, a shotgun held firmly in her grasp, the muzzle now pointed directly at Sydney's chest._

" _Let us go!" Sydney wheezed, a hand on her chest as she willed her lungs to function properly once again. "Or you'll regret-"_

" _You're pushing it." Kate said in a bored tone and jerked the shotgun forward, the end of it pressed right up against Sydney's chest, directly over her heart. "Now, see, what I was going to say is that someone once told me that you have to tame your demons and I don't agree with that."_

" _Why?" Sydney asked after a beat of silence. Apparently this wasn't completely a monologue after all._

" _Why tame them when it's more fun to keep them feral?"_

" _Tame demons are less likely to turn on you." Sydney pointed out and felt the pain in her lungs decreasing with every passing second._

" _See, I came up with a solution to that too. Don't tame your demons, just keep them on leashes." Kate cackled and Sydney's hands immediately went right back to the collar, jerking on it as she made a desperate attempt to get it away from her neck._

 _It wasn't until Kate lowered her gun and bent down, grabbing hold of a sturdy metal chain that Sydney's movements ceased. Her eyes widened as Kate wrapped the links around her hand, shortening the chain and tightening it around Peter's neck. Sydney made a move to lunge at her beast-like counterpart but her own collar drove itself into her windpipe, ceasing her movements abruptly while she was reduced to watching Kate drag Peter's weakened body closer to her._

 _Sydney's eyes widened as the barrel of the shotgun was now pointed at Peter's head. Whatever Kate had planned on doing wasn't going to be good for either of them and Sydney knew that she had to act fast, she had to figure out a way to get them out of there before Kate pulled the trigger, sending pieces of Peter's brain sailing through the air._

" _What do you want? Just tell me what you want!" Sydney screamed and pressed her fingertips against the stone floor. Her claws were brought out and the points dug into the stone as she tried to get closer to Kate. If she could just get to Kate, hurt her enough to distract, maybe she stood a chance._

" _I want-"_

 _Her words were cut off by a violent scream of pain and Sydney recoiled, her back colliding with a rigid rock wall behind her. She drew her knees up against her chest, shielded her eyes with her arms and let out a guttural shriek as the blast from the shotgun sounded out in the room._

 _Her ears were ringing so loudly that she couldn't hear anything, not even her own heartbeat. The smell of the gun powder flooded her nostrils, choking off the air that she was desperately in need of and before Sydney could make a move to get away, she felt Kate's own claws in the side of her neck._

" _Look!" Kate growled, her lips right next to Sydney's ear and she could barely make out the words from the loud ringing. "Look at what he did!"_

 _She shook her head no and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that everything would stop soon enough. None of this could be happening, she was better than this, stronger than this yet somehow Kate had managed to best not only her but Peter as well._

" _If you're not careful, you'll be joining your precious mate in the depths of hell." Kate snarled and shoved Sydney to the side, sending her to the floor where her head collided with the hard stone. Her eyes popped open and she found the dimming blue glow of Peter's eyes, which faded away to nothing as she watched on._

" _No!" Sydney cried out and moved her hands forward, trying to reach out to him, to take away his pain. Kate's foot came down on her wrist though and Sydney heard the snapping of her bones, which was promptly followed up by a cry of anguish._

" _You two deserve everything that you get." Kate's tone was calm, eerily so, and Sydney held her breath as Kate brought the shotgun up, leveling it in front of Sydney's face. "Rot in hell you stupid, stupid bitch!"_

Sydney heard the sound of the gun blast but her eyes snapped open, her chest heaving as she tried to breathe easy. Her hands came up and her palms pressed over her body, searching for wounds, feeling out injuries that she had potentially sustained.

When the light above her came on, Sydney let out a shriek but Charlie was quick to raise her hands in surrender as she stood at the foot of the bed, looking at her frightened alpha. Sydney's eyes widened at the sight and she shook her head, trying to process what the hell was going on.

"You were thrashing, then you screamed." Charlie pointed out and refused to look away from Sydney's wide, scared eyes. "I didn't know if I should've woken you up so I just…I got up, I gave you room on the bed."

Sydney took a deep breath into her lungs and held it there, hoping that she'd be able to calm herself down enough to talk rationally with Charlie. It was hard enough waking up just before a shotgun had blown her head off, now she had to explain to Charlie what she had just witnessed, and she'd have to do it while letting the girl see that she wasn't a total nutball.

"I have, uh, nightmares." Sydney said, trying to convince Charlie that she was calmer, but it was easy to tell by the heaving of her chest that she was far from calm.

"Bad ones I take it." Charlie remarked and lowered her hands to her sides. She motioned to the bed with her head and Sydney nodded her approval.

Charlie climbed up onto the bed and crawled up to the pillows, taking a seat next to Sydney. Sydney sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and let it out before repeating the process twice more.

"I got shot, in the face, that's what woke me up." Sydney murmured and Charlie reached a hand out, offering her support to Sydney. The alpha took Charlie's hand in hers and watched as her veins turned black, Charlie drawing out a little bit of Sydney's pain, which was just enough to remind her that it had been a nightmare, a horrifying, traumatic nightmare.

Peter wasn't dead, she hadn't been shot in the face, and Kate Argent, wherever she was, didn't have them both chained up in some dungeon-esque room. Peter, as far as Sydney was aware, was tucked away in Eichen house while she was right next to Charlie in a hotel room. It was Kate that she didn't know the whereabouts of but that didn't matter because she didn't _have_ her or Peter.

"That does sound sufficiently terrifying." Charlie said softly and Sydney shifted closer to her on the bed. She leaned into the younger girl's chest and Charlie relinquished her hold on her hand before wrapping her arms around her and embracing her.

Sydney curled into Charlie's hold and felt her body trembling, which immediately sent Charlie into a panic, evident by the severe uptick of her heartbeat.

"I'm fine, I'm okay." Sydney turned her head the slightest bit and met Charlie's fear filled eyes. "I get the shakes a lot during the night, it's from the withdrawal."

Charlie narrowed her eyes in on Sydney but accepted the explanation. So long as Sydney was alive and breathing in her arms then she was going to try not to worry too much about her. She made a mental note to talk to her dad about it next time she had a minute alone, at least that would give the beta peace of mind.

"So you have nightmares, and then you wake up shaking? Anything else I should know about?" Charlie questioned and Sydney let out a sigh before peeling herself out of Charlie's grasp.

"I get the chills sometimes too, so bad that I can't sleep."

"Oh god, you poor thing." Charlie set her hand on Sydney's wrist and drew out even more of her pain, watching as Sydney's limbs went from shaking really badly to barely moving at all. Whatever was happening to her alpha, Charlie knew that it wasn't good and she would do anything and everything she could to try to help Sydney on their trip to California. "What do you normally do when this happens?"

"Well," Sydney held her breath for a second and then blew it out, there was no sense trying to hide it, Charlie had already witnessed one of her ritualistic freak-outs in the middle of the night, "Aidan and Ethan lay with me until I fall asleep, sometimes, depending on how bad it is, they do exactly what you're doing and draw out my pain."

Charlie nodded her approval and Sydney forced a smile at her young beta, who was already someone that she found herself trusting. If she could just get Charlie to understand that what she was going through wasn't going to be a detriment to her position as a beta in her pack, then everything would be okay.

"Do they ever sing to you?" Charlie asked and Sydney shook her head no, lying down so that her head was in the pillows. Charlie followed her lead and lay down beside her, running her hand over her shoulder before grasping her hand once again.

"They just cuddle with me." Sydney whispered and shied away from Charlie's gaze.

"Well can _I_ try singing to you? My dad always sang to me when I had nightmares."

Sydney furrowed her eyebrows together but hesitantly nodded her head yes, "I'll try anything at this point."

Charlie's lips turned up into a sweet little smile and she locked her eyes on Sydney, who had brought her own gaze up, her eyes glowing red around the edges.

"Well you ask, how long I'll love you, it's hard to explain, but I'll try." Charlie paused and gave Sydney a slight nod, letting her alpha shut her eyes before continuing her lullaby. "Tell me, how long has the sun been shining, above us in the sky?"

"That's pretty." Sydney mumbled and curled closer to Charlie, the younger girl taking Sydney in her arms.

"Apparently my mom sang it to me as a baby too, it's REO Speedwagon's 'Till The Rivers Run Dry'."

"Hmm, really pretty." Sydney murmured and her body relaxed a little bit more in Charlie's hold.

"Till the last day of forever, if I have it my way we'll stay together. Till all the rivers run dry, I'll be loving you. Till the mountains have crumbled, I'll always be true. And if for any reason you say goodbye, ask me how long would I cry, till all the rivers run dry…till all the rivers run dry."

Charlie paused in her singing and glanced down at Sydney, taking in the sight of her peaceful expression. She tuned her ears in to her alpha's heart and smiled at the sound of its rhythmic beating. Without even bothering to turn the light in the room off, Charlie let out a sigh of relief, settled into the bed and shut her own eyes, hoping that sleep would take her just as quickly as it had with Sydney.

The morning would bring a new day and Charlie could only smile with the possibilities that came with it.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie had volunteered to head down to the breakfast bar set up on the main floor of the hotel, which gave Sydney the privacy she needed in order to make a few calls to her family back in Beacon Hills.

Her first call had been to Stiles, who was eager to hear from her after weeks of not really knowing what had become of her. Sydney had reassured him that everything was fine but she was going to be in Beacon Hills for the next few days and wondered if he wanted to meet up for coffee. Stiles had readily agreed and they had set a time for the following day, which would give Sydney time to settle in after the long drive.

She hadn't told him that she was traveling with a buddy, but that didn't matter, she planned on bringing Charlie with her when she met with Stiles, introduce the two and show Stiles that she was doing okay on her own, even going as far as to have acquired a new beta.

Once she had finished on the phone with Stiles, she had dialed Jordan Parrish's number and left him a message. She wasn't worried that he wasn't picking up, he had a job to do and Sydney was well aware of how busy being a deputy could be. Beacon Hills was a happening place and now that Jordan was aware that he wasn't entirely human, she figured that would keep him occupied even when his job didn't.

She had also shot a text to Derek to feel him out. She knew that he had taken off after the incident in the ruins and she _had_ spoken to him once she had arrived in Colorado but up until that moment, she hadn't exactly felt like speaking to anyone, especially Derek, who would be able to pick up on the slightest little thing off about her.

While she wasn't ashamed of her pregnancy, she just figured that it was better to keep that little piece of information to herself, especially considering she wasn't anywhere near the father. No, until Peter knew, or it was too obvious to hide, she was going to keep it to herself and let only those who needed to know what was really going on.

Charlie had waltzed back into the room just as Sydney had sent her text out to Derek. The beta had brought back a small tray with a couple Styrofoam cups as well as a paper plate loaded up with various breakfast foods: mini muffins, pint sized bagels, even a waffle that was still steaming slightly. A smile graced Sydney's face at the sight and she suddenly realized how truly hungry she was.

"I didn't know what you liked so I got a bunch of everything; they even had a 'make your own waffle' station so I figured we could split it, if you want." Charlie offered and took a seat on the end of the bed beside Sydney, leaving a couple feet of space between them so that she could set the tray down. "I got orange juice and apple juice, they had coffee but I don't know how good that is for the baby."

"That's fine, I'll take whatever one you don't want."

"Alright, you can have the orange juice then, vitamin C for the baby." Charlie grinned and Sydney couldn't help but feel a little bit more at ease than she had felt in a long time. "Speaking of baby, have you considered names or anything?"

"Oh, uh, names…am I a bad mother if I haven't really put that much thought into it?" Sydney countered and Charlie shook her head. "I know that I'd prefer a girl, but that's just because I'd have no idea what to do with a boy, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be happy with either."

"Little girl sounds good to me." Charlie remarked and lifted the warm waffle up off the plate, ripping into two halves and handing Sydney one of them. Sydney took it in her own hand and lifted it up to her mouth, taking a small bite before Charlie mirrored her motion.

"I was kind of thinking I wanted to incorporate my mom's name into the baby's name."

"What was your mom's name?"

"Brynn."

"That's really pretty."

Sydney nodded her head in agreement and took another bite of the waffle, chewing it thoroughly and then swallowing, "My dad's name was Mason, and I don't know, I guess if I'm incorporating my mom's name, I want to get his in there too."

"What if you just mashed the two together, like Bryon?"

"Uh, that's…"

"You can say no, we're just brainstorming here." Charlie let out a laugh. "If you think it's stupid, then just say it."

"Well, I don't think it's _totally_ stupid, I just think…that it's stupid, yeah, okay."

Charlie reached out and gave her a reassuring pat on the knee, "combining them was stupid too-"

"No it wasn't!" Sydney shot back. "I liked that part of the idea. What about like Breeann, or Brayan?"

"Go through the vowels." Charlie suggested. "Briann, Bro-"

"Bruin. Like Bruin?" Sydney cut in and leaned forward, lowering her voice. "That's not stupid, is it? I really like that, _please_ tell me that's not a stupid name."

Charlie considered the name Bruin and she tossed it around in her head. She even went as far as to murmur the name out loud before looking at Sydney expectantly.

"Depends on the middle name." Charlie stated matter-of-factly.

"Lee, Bruin Lee."

"Bruin Lee Vance or Bruin Lee Hale?" Charlie tossed back.

"Oh god, uh, Hale, I think that makes the most sense."

"So Bruin Lee Hale?" Charlie questioned and Sydney nodded her head yes. "I like it."

Sydney's lips turned upwards into a smile of relief and Charlie couldn't help but giggle at the excitement in her alpha's eyes.

"Bruin Lee Hale is it." Sydney chuckled along with the giggling Charlie but Charlie soon stopped laughing, Sydney going silent seconds after.

"And what if it's a boy?" Charlie pointed out and Sydney scrunched up her nose at the thought.

That wasn't fair, she had actually just been excited about the prospect of having a baby but now Charlie had rained on her parade. Well, maybe together the two of them could come up with a boy's name.

"Brian Lee?" Sydney said, her tone laced with uncertainty.

"We can work on it in the car?" Charlie suggested and Sydney let out a little sigh of relief. Yes, the car, they still had quite a long drive until they were actually in Beacon Hills, certainly the two of them could discuss boy names for her baby. There was still plenty of time, Sydney didn't have to worry just yet, plus it was possible, unlikely but possible, that Peter would show up before the birth, he'd have an opinion on something as important as his child's name, wouldn't he?

"Okay. Thanks."

"For what?" Charlie tilted her head to the side. "For the waffle? It was my pleasure, I love making waffles!"

"Well yes for the waffle but also for just being here with me. Last night, you did real good and I have to tell you that I really appreciate what you did for me." Sydney bowed her head down and studied the items on the tray. Some of it they could take with them but some of it would be eaten before they were all packed up.

"Hey, thank _you_ for taking me into your pack." Charlie pointed out with a smile. "It's all good Syd, we can call it even, you take care of me and I take care of you, when I can. That's what pack is for."

Sydney nodded in agreement and smiled up at Charlie, "let's finish breakfast and hit the road, yeah?"

"Yes, I can't wait to get to Beacon Hills."

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Peter has sort of made his reappearance! How did you guys feel about her nightmare? And Charlie, do you think she handled it pretty well?_**

 ** _Thank you so much to those of you that reviewed, favourited and alerted! You guys are awesome!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Charlie's a darn good friend for her to have!  
_**

 ** _sarahmichellegellarfan1: How'd you like the latest installment?  
_**


	10. Chapter 10

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 10** **:**_

Sydney pulled into the parking lot on the side of the apartment building that she had once been all too familiar with. The sun was just starting to go down, which meant that they weren't going to be getting too much done until the next day. She put the car in park and glanced over at her road trip buddy, who had dozed off somewhere shortly after they had crossed into California.

Sydney hadn't minded a little bit of quiet, in fact it had given her some time to think about what she truly wanted to accomplish while she and Charlie were in Beacon Hills. Aside from meeting up with Stiles and Parrish, she knew she wanted to talk to some people about getting her parents' house rebuilt, or, at the very least, in the beginning phases of being rebuilt.

Ideally she wanted a place to live if she chose to head back to California in the near future. Staying in Peter's one bedroom apartment would work temporarily, and for her and Charlie it was just fine for their upcoming week, but in the long run, it wouldn't work out too well for her and the baby, especially when the baby got big enough to need its own space, so yes, getting her old house on the rebuilding track was a primary concern for Sydney this trip.

The other concern she wanted to deal with was letting Charlie meet some of the important people that she had left in Beacon Hills, mainly Stiles and Parrish. She wanted to check in with the sheriff as well but Sydney was very aware of how busy the man could be so at the very least, Charlie would be introduced to the man's spastic son.

Turning the car right off, Sydney freed the keys from the ignition and reached her hand over, nudging Charlie's knee with her knuckles and bringing the younger girl back to reality. Charlie woke up abruptly and glanced around, peering out the front window and looking directly at the outer brick wall of the apartment building.

"Where are we?" Charlie asked and lifted her hands into the air, stretching out her muscles. Sydney shook her head in amusement and opened her door, pausing in her seat and looking at Charlie.

"Peter's apartment, I figured we could just stay at his place." Sydney answered and made quick work of climbing out of the car, shutting the door behind her. She tucked the keys into the front pocket on her jeans after pushing the button to release the trunk.

Charlie met her at the back of the car and made a move to grab her suitcase, lugging it up onto her shoulder and watching as Sydney did the same. Charlie reached up and shut the trunk, falling in stride behind Sydney as she led the way to the front of the building, digging her keys back out and using a small silver one to unlock the door at the front.

Taking a few seconds to look around, Charlie took in the sight of the lobby. There wasn't much to it but a little chair was set up across the hall from the mailboxes, which were built right into the wall.

"Let me just check the mail." Sydney mumbled and stepped away from Charlie, shoving an even smaller silver key into the corresponding mailbox.

The little door opened and Sydney reached in, nabbing the small stack of envelopes and flyers that had been tucked away inside. She knew that anything important had been forwarded to her house in Colorado but that didn't mean that Peter wasn't going to continue to get any mail at all, especially if most of it was junk.

Tucking the mail under her arm, she shut the mailbox and motioned with her head for Charlie to follow her. The two of them headed for the stairs and wandered up them side by side, a comfortable silence hovering over them. It wasn't until Sydney approached the door to Peter's apartment that she said another word and she hadn't even meant to say it out loud.

"Peter…" She murmured and took in a deep breath, inhaling his lingering scent. Charlie didn't acknowledge that she had heard her and remained absolutely silent next to her alpha, although she too was taking in the scent of the wolf who had lived in the apartment not all that long ago.

Sydney jammed the key into the lock and twisted it, freeing the door from its hold and kicking it open. His scent was even stronger inside and Sydney rushed forward, looking around at the place that she had called home once upon a time. Charlie hesitantly stepped inside too but she paused and shut the door behind her, flipping the lock across as a safety precaution. She didn't know what sort of dangers lurked in Beacon Hills and after hearing of all the weird supernatural creatures that Sydney had encountered, she wasn't about to take any chances.

"Did you want to share the bed again?" Charlie asked, breaking the silence. Sydney immediately turned towards her and tilted her head to the side, clearly confused as to what Charlie was asking. "At night, did you want to share the bed again? If you want me to, I can take the couch."

"Oh." Sydney glanced towards the couch and smiled at the fond memories taking over her mind. "Uh, we can share the bed."

"You sure?"

"Yes." Sydney nodded her head and used her hand to motion Charlie forward, leading her into the bedroom that smelled even _more_ like Peter. Maybe this was the reason Charlie was hesitant to want to share bed, maybe she had caught the scent earlier and figured that Sydney wouldn't want to interfere with it.

"Okay." Charlie muttered and when Sydney set her suitcase on the end of the bed, Charlie followed her lead and set hers right beside Sydney's. "What's the plan for tonight?"

"We can run out and grab some groceries and anything else you need." Sydney offered and took hold of the mail from underneath her arm. She began flipping through, looking at the flyers and coupons as she waited for Charlie's answer.

"Maybe grab something to eat while we're out too?" Charlie asked with a hopeful look in her eyes. Sydney glanced up from the mail and grinned at her beta before nodding her approval of Charlie's suggestion.

"Pizza?"

"Oh yes, that sounds amazing!" Charlie smiled right back at Sydney.

"You can go check the rest of the place out if you want." Sydney stated and waved her hand in the direction of the living room. "Turn the TV on too, if you're bored?"

"How long until we're going out to grab groceries then?"

"We can go whenever, you want to go right now?" Sydney looked at Charlie, who nodded her head yes. "Okay, let me just pee and then we can go."

"Oh, yeah, that's a good idea, I have to do that too."

The two girls took their turns using the facilities and Sydney had locked the door to the apartment as they headed back out. She had handed Charlie the car keys and told her that she could drive if she wanted to, which Charlie was quick to accept.

There was a little store not too far from the apartment building and Sydney directed her beta towards it, the two of them barely conversing in the car. It wasn't until they were parked in the lot that either girl made a move to say anything to the other.

"How does it feel being back here?" Charlie asked in a low tone and turned the car off, freeing the keys from the ignition and handing them over to Sydney.

"It's not as bad as I figured it would be. Peter's scent in the apartment was more soothing than anything." Sydney explained briefly and took her bottom lip in between her teeth. "When we're done here, I can drive you past Eichen House and show you where Peter's locked up, it's a pretty impressive building actually."

"Just a drive by though right? You're not going to take me inside or anything?" Charlie questioned and Sydney tried to stifle her laugh at how uneasy the girl got at the mentioning of the infamous mental institution.

"Yeah, just a drive by. If it makes you feel better, we can go tomorrow instead, you know, when it's light out." Sydney laughed and Charlie leveled a glare on her but soon joined right in with the laughing. "Come on, let's go get some food, maybe some snacks, then grab a pizza and head back."

Charlie hopped out of the car, Sydney following suit, and the two girls met at the front of the car. They walked side by side into the store and only paused so that Sydney could grab a basket, which she held onto in her hand, letting it dangle at her side. Charlie led the way into the store and headed down the first aisle, her eyes scanning the shelves of food and hoping that Sydney would get some good stuff.

She took a step forward and grabbed a can of chicken noodle soup before looking at the label. Sydney hadn't said anything to her and when she turned around, the girl in question was running her fingers over boxes of rice.

"Grab whatever you want." Sydney announced without even glancing in Charlie's direction. "If there's something you want me to make, speak now or forever hold your peace."

"Oh, I'm good with whatever. Dad and I don't do a lot of cooking so it's a delicacy just to have homemade food as it is." Charlie pointed out with a smile and Sydney finally glanced over at her beta, smiling right along with her. " _But_ since you're offering, I've always wanted to try sushi."

"Good choice." Sydney let out a chuckle at the girl's request. "I think I can handle making that, although be forewarned, it might not look as pretty as the stuff you get at a restaurant."

"No way! That's cool, I don't care how it looks, not really anyways." Charlie snorted, knowing that even if their upcoming week itself wasn't very eventful, at least she'd be eating well. "I've never really known _anyone_ who can handle food and cook like you, not even a little bit."

"What about your old pack? A boyfriend maybe?" Sydney countered and finally settled on one of the boxes of rice, picking it up and setting it into the basket. "Nothing like that?"

"Uh, no." Charlie shook her head and waited for Sydney to get close to her before dropping the can of soup into the basket. "I mean, I've dated before but not anyone that knew anything about cooking. My last boyfriend was part of my old pack, but then they were annihilated."

Sydney nudged Charlie's hip with her own and caught the sad expression on the beta's face. She nodded her understanding and looped her free hand through Charlie's arm, hanging on to her in an attempt to soothe her.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sydney murmured and Charlie gave off an awkward shrug. "Losing pack hurts, _real_ bad."

"Yeah." Charlie breathed the word out and straightened up next to Sydney. "On the bright side, now I've got you and you're a good cook."

"Well thanks." Sydney beamed over at her. "Did you want to talk about your old pack at all? You can tell me what your boyfriend was like, if you want."

"He was a good guy, we weren't dating that long but we were pack mates for a while before we got together. I liked him but I mean, we never made it past kissing."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I was never ready and then all of a sudden, one night I went looking for him and I found him mauled to death with the rest of them." Charlie explained in a low tone, cautious of prying ears that could be lurking around the next aisle.

"Wait, where were you when…when-"

"I was working with my dad. He needed my help at the office that day so I was there. When he closed up, I headed out to where my pack used to gather and found them all…dead. There was so much blood…"

"How long ago was this?" Sydney pressed and leaned over towards Charlie, resting her head against the top of hers. "How old were you?"

"It was a couple years ago, I tend to block a lot of it out though."

"Do you have any idea who did that to them?" Sydney pressed and the two of the rounded the end of the aisle, heading down the next one where Sydney focused in on searching for ingredients to make sushi, as well as other meals for the girl next to her. "Hunters maybe?"

"Honestly," Charlie paused and let out an anxious breath, "I have no idea. I kept a low profile after that and my dad kept his eyes and ears open for information, but he never got any and no one tried to come after me. I don't even think whoever killed them all realized that they missed me, if they did, they didn't care."

Sydney bowed her head and stayed silent for a minute in respect for Charlie's fallen pack. While her own parents had been slaughtered, she could understand the profound sense of loss that Charlie would've experienced knowing that her entire pack had been obliterated while she had no idea it was even going on.

"We had an alpha pack a while ago, the alphas within the pack had killed their own betas, I can't imagine the type of heartache you had to go through knowing…I'm sorry, I really am."

"Well it's not your fault, maybe the alpha pack had something to do with it, maybe it was hunters, at this point, I'm not about to go diving into an investigation."

"No, I wouldn't imagine that would've been wise, not as an omega anyways." Sydney remarked and hoped that their conversation wouldn't be grim the entire time they were in the store, on one hand she wanted to know what had happened in Charlie's past to make her the person she was today but on the other hand, Sydney knew how hard it was talking about such tragedies and she didn't want to make Charlie relive it if she was uncomfortable doing so.

"Definitely."

"If I hear anything though, I'll let you know. There's a hunter in Beacon Hills, at least he _was_ in Beacon Hills, when I was here. His daughter passed away and his spirit was broken but he ended up taking on a different code. Remember the true alpha I was talking about?"

"Scott right?"

"Yeah." Sydney smiled. "So the hunter, Chris Argent, is a pretty good ally of his. He's not your typical bloodthirsty hunter, maybe he knows something about what happened to your pack."

"You think?"

"Maybe. If we run into him while we're here, I'll see if I can talk to him but I'm not entirely sure he stuck around. I promise you though that I will do anything that I can to help you find out why your pack was targeted." Sydney stated. "Maybe I can even talk to Deaton, see what he knows."

"You know a lot of people in high places, don't you?" Charlie leveled her eyes on Sydney, who merely smiled in response.

"Yeah, apparently the Vance name carries quite a bit of weight around here." Sydney chuckled and peeled herself away from Charlie. "Now, if you want me to make you sushi, you're going to have to help me find the right stuff."

"Yes, yes I will." Charlie smiled and came up behind her, hesitating before gently wrapping her hand around Sydney's bicep.

When the alpha turned to face Charlie, she cautiously moved in for a hug, Sydney tensing at the motion but relaxing once she realized what the hell Charlie was doing. Sydney let the basket drop to the floor before lifting her own arms up and reciprocating the action, even going as far as to run her hands up and down Charlie's back in an attempt to provide her with the tiniest bit of comfort and reassurance that she was right there. So long as Charlie stuck with her, she wasn't going to let anything hurt Charlie.

"You're a good person." Sydney murmured and Charlie reluctantly pulled away, looking into Sydney's eyes, which flickered red in the process.

" _You_ are." Charlie countered and before Sydney had a chance to reply, Charlie headed off down the aisle in search of the ingredients they'd need to make sushi.

Sydney stood back and watched her move, taking in the sight of her newest addition to the pack. There wasn't a single thing that Sydney would change about her, so far she was turning out to be just the sort of beta that Sydney needed.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie had gotten the privilege of driving back to the apartment once the two girls had finished their shopping. Sydney had insisted on putting the groceries away, seeing as she was the one who would be doing most of the cooking and she knew where everything went.

Once they had settled into the apartment for the night, the two of them had grabbed a bag of chips and something to drink and had proceeded to relax on the couch, Charlie getting the remote control as she searched for something to watch to occupy them. Sydney wasn't going to say anything out loud but she was eager to find out if Batman was on, and if he was, would Charlie stop to watch it.

Twice through the channels and Sydney realized that there was no Batman, however the first Captain America movie was playing and Sydney couldn't help but smile as Charlie promptly stopped channel surfing at the sight of Chris Evans' face on the screen.

"A Marvel fan are we now?" Sydney teased and stretched her feet out, resting them on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Duh!" Charlie shot back and turned her head towards Sydney, a giant grin present on her face. "The Cap is my favourite superhero. Do _you_ have a favourite superhero?"

Sydney thought about the question for a few seconds and recalled the conversation that she had once had with Peter. She had always ended up cheering more for the villains but did that mean she didn't have a favourite _hero_?

"I don't really know." Sydney answered shyly and felt Charlie's gaze on her, clearly the girl was judging her.

"Okay, well, do you watch-"

"I like Batman, the show though, not Batman himself. I always had a thing for the Joker."

"Ah yes, I can see that."

"What do you mean by that?" Sydney scrunched up her nose but Charlie quickly lifted her hands up in surrender.

"I mean, for a cartoon character, he's definitely kind of not so bad looking."

"Ha!" Sydney threw herself forward, her feet dropping to the carpeted floor in front of the couch. "I knew it, he's totally attractive, for a cartoon."

"Yes. Why's this so important to you though?"

"Oh." Sydney's eyes fell to the floor and she sucked in a breath. There was no point in trying to hide it, plus Charlie seemed to understand her, for the most part. "Okay, well way back before Peter and I were a thing, we ended up watching Batman and I said that I always thought the Joker was attractive. He pointed out that he was a cartoon and that it was kind of weird-"

"No way! Cartoon characters can be attractive, just like normal people." Charlie cut in with a smile. "When was the last time you had a girl for a friend?"

Sydney tipped her head to the side and thought back into her past. She had had female friends before but none that she was all that close with. Her best friend had almost always been Derek and he certainly wasn't a girl.

"Well there was never anyone that I was particularly close to who was a girl. Derek and I were inseparable until I moved away, he's probably my only real best friend."

"Huh, that's okay I guess. I don't really have all that many friends either and I never really did outside of the pack."

"Then it's a damn good thing we've got each other now, huh?" Sydney teased and Charlie perked right up. "Just for future reference, I'm going to be telling you all of my secrets from here on out."

"Hey, same goes for you." Charlie chuckled and shifted closer to Sydney, her voice dropped down lower, "where's Derek now?"

She should've been anticipating the question, Derek had come up in conversation, it was only fair that Charlie have concerns about his whereabouts, right? Sydney lifted her one leg up and tucked it under her bum.

"I'm not really sure where he is at this exact moment. He tends to drift but he always seems to be around when I really need him."

"A drifter?"

"Yeah, a lone wolf more or less." Sydney pointed out.

"Pun intended?" Charlie cocked her head to the side and Sydney scoffed.

"He used to be an alpha, turned three teenagers. He had a pack and everything, I was a part of it until he said some things that I didn't totally agree with and decided to chance it on my own." Sydney explained, hoping that Charlie would understand not to dive too deeply into why she had left, at least not this early in their relationship.

"What happened to his pack then?"

"Two of his betas; Boyd and Erica, were killed when the alpha pack showed up. His third beta, Isaac, chose Scott over Derek for his alpha, but it doesn't matter, he's over in France now."

"France eh?" Charlie leaned forward, clearly intrigued by her explanation. "There's this guy I met online that lives in France, we talk all the time, his name's Isaac too."

"Isaac Lahey?" Sydney straightened up and leveled her gaze on Charlie, who was searching in her pocket for her cell phone.

Sydney waited patiently for a few seconds before her beta pulled out the device, hitting a few buttons and then turning it so that the screen was facing Sydney. She let out a small gasp at the sight of the one and only Isaac Lahey in the picture on the phone before shaking her head in disbelief.

"This is Derek's Isaac?" Charlie asked, Sydney nodding her head yes. Charlie then turned the phone around, smiling at the picture of the teenaged boy on the screen. "Small world huh?"

"How long have you and Isaac been talking to each other?"

"Six months, give or take." Charlie shrugged, stole one last look at the picture and then shoved her phone back into her pocket. "I met him on a site for grieving teenagers."

Shaking her head, Sydney considered the chances that her newest beta had met and befriended Isaac Lahey online. It was kind of funny, in a strange way, but at the same time, maybe it could be beneficial. At least this way Charlie would have someone to talk to who knew about Sydney, maybe Isaac could help Charlie trust her and believe in her.

"You ever thought about going over to France?" Sydney questioned and Charlie shrugged.

"I don't really have the money, plus I don't know, sure we talk online but meeting, in person, that's different. Up until now, I had no idea that this kid was even who he said he was."

"Right." Sydney nodded. "What about now then, would you consider going over there now, assuming you had the money?"

Charlie bowed her head down and considered the question. Part of her had always wanted to meet the mysterious Isaac from online and now that she knew he was at least somewhat who he said he was, then maybe it seemed like a better idea than it had been even minutes ago. If she had the money, and the means to get to France, would she go, would she want to meet Isaac in person?

"Maybe, but I don't think I'd want to go completely by myself, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that." Sydney smiled. "Well, maybe we'll sit down and talk to the twins about this when we get back to Colorado, how's that sound?"

"Why?"

"I don't know, they know him too, maybe they'll have more to tell you."

Charlie turned her attention back to the television screen and watched Captain America fighting the bad guys. It wasn't until Sydney stood up off the couch beside her that she tore her eyes away from the TV, and only so she could look up at her alpha.

"I'm going to put my pajamas on." Sydney announced, catching the concerned look on Charlie's face. "I'll be back."

With a nod of her head, Charlie focused back on the movie while Sydney stepped around the coffee table, heading right for the bedroom, which still smelled so much like Peter. As soon as she was inside, she shut the door about halfway and stepped up to the end of the bed, undoing the top flap on her suitcase before digging out her pajamas. Once she pulled out her flannel shorts though, she stopped and turned her attention to the dresser against the wall.

Peter certainly wasn't going to be using his clothes any time soon and she knew that she'd be able to wash them before he was free, plus they'd smell _a lot_ more like him than the shirts that she had stolen the first time she left for Colorado.

Without putting it off for another second, Sydney pranced over to the dresser, pulled the second drawer open and reached inside, nabbing one of his t-shirts. She ran her finger over the material and felt the softness against her skin before lifting the shirt up and pressing her nose into it.

At the lingering scent clinging to the material, she let out a soft sigh and shut her eyes, basking in the familiarity of being in the apartment. Sydney gently stepped backwards and when her legs collided with the edge of the bed, she dropped her butt down and sat, and that's when she finally opened her eyes.

Making quick work of stripping out of her own shirt and bra, she pulled Peter's t-shirt over her head and hugged her arms against her body, loving how utterly relaxed she felt at that very moment. She leaned back and gingerly fell against the bed before rolling onto her stomach and crawling up to the pillows, where she promptly buried her face into the one that Peter had always used.

Yet again, his scent was still there, this time more potent than even the shirt and Sydney let her eyes fall shut as she let her mind drift back to the times that she had spent right next to Peter in the very bed she was laying on.

In the living room, Charlie had been watching, listening to Sydney as she moved within the room. Standing up, the younger girl tiptoed towards the bedroom and poked her head inside, immediately opening the door at the sight.

Sydney was curled up on top of the bed, her head in the pillows, a different t-shirt on than the one she had gone into the room with, but that wasn't what had Charlie smiling. No, the reason the beta was happy was because Sydney was sleeping and for the first time since the two had met, Sydney looked peaceful.

Without making another noise, Charlie retreated back into the living room, pulling the door halfway shut behind her. She wasn't going to disturb the woman, she was going to finish watching her movie and then curl up on the couch.

She knew how desperately Sydney needed a peaceful night's sleep and that was exactly what Charlie was hoping she'd get that night. Maybe all her alpha needed was to be somewhere where she didn't feel so alone, maybe all she needed was to be back _home_.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _2 reviews :( Aw guys, do you still like the story? How about hearing about Isaac and Derek?_**

 ** _Thank you to those that favourited and added this story to their alerts!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Ha, yeah right, Peter doesn't ever seem to learn his lesson._**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: So is she lol. thank you so much for the review!_**

 ** _If this chapter gets 5 reviews, I'll post the next chapter sooner!_**


	11. Chapter 11

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 11** **:**_

"How come Isaac left Derek to be a part of Scott's pack?" Charlie questioned from the passenger seat in Sydney's car. Sydney was driving, taking them to the remnants of her parents' house where they were supposed to meet up with Deputy Jordan Parrish, who was expecting a picnic lunch, which Sydney had made first thing once she had gotten up.

"I think it had a lot to do with Derek focusing his attention on his younger sister instead of helping Scott find the missing parents." Sydney answered and slowed down as she turned onto the street that she had lived on as a child.

She was thankful for the good night's sleep, something she hadn't had since leaving California, and she knew that it had everything to do with the fact that she was in such close proximity to Peter's scent, which was soothing enough on its own. Add into the mix that the apartment was the closest thing to a real home that she had and she figured that the next few nights would be just as peaceful.

"Right." Charlie nodded her understanding and turned her attention out the window, taking in the sight of the passing foliage lining the side of the street. "And why were these parents missing again?"

"Because the Darach was planning on sacrificing them." Sydney answered smoothly and tilted her head to the side, making sure that she had her facts straight. "She took them and tied them up under the Nemeton."

"She? How do you know the Darach was a girl?"

"She was basically human, Jennifer Blake was her name."

"Okay." Charlie mumbled back skeptically, clearly confused over the whole explanation. "What's a Nemeton?"

"It's a tree with magical powers." Sydney drawled, trying to keep her answers simple, just like she knew she would've wanted if she had been the one asking questions.

"I'm going to need diagrams." Charlie huffed and threw her hands into the air in defeat. "Will you draw me diagrams?"

Sydney's lips turned upwards into a smile and she fought off the urge to chuckle at her friend. For anyone not directly involved, the whole tale seemed a little farfetched, even for the supernatural, and Sydney could only imagine how hard it was for Charlie to keep everything straight.

"If you really want me to, I _will_ draw you diagrams." Sydney glanced over at Charlie, who was rolling her eyes in response. "We've got time to get your head wrapped around this stuff."

"Yeah, like seven months and then you'll be focused on your baby."

Sydney sucked in a breath at the mentioning of her child. Yes, Charlie was absolutely right, in about seven months' time she'd have to look after a newborn, which meant she'd have less time and energy to spend helping Charlie understand everything that Sydney already knew. The idea of being on a time constraint, albeit a rather long one, suddenly hit Sydney and she felt her heart pounding just a little bit harder than it normally did.

When Charlie turned her head to face Sydney, she furrowed her eyebrows in concern, clearly hearing the woman's pounding heartbeat. Her hand came out slowly and Charlie rested her palm on Sydney's wrist, reminding her that she wasn't alone, that the two of them would be okay.

"You are really freaked out about being a mom, aren't you?" Charlie teased and Sydney robotically nodded her head yes. "Why?"

"Why? What do you mean why? I have a hard enough time taking care of myself and that's not even throwing in Aidan, Ethan and you. I'm your alpha, I have to make sure that you guys all know just as much, if not more, than I do so that you can keep yourself protected when I can't be there."

"That sounds like something a mom would say." Charlie pointed out matter-of-factly and Sydney opened her mouth to argue but found that the younger girl was spot on. "Just because you're my alpha now doesn't mean you have to take care of me. I do have a dad who's pretty capable of teaching me a few things too."

"You're right." Sydney sighed and flipped her blinker on, pulling into the driveway of her old house. The deputy's cruiser was already parked there and she came to a stop behind it. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little…"

"Stressed?" Charlie provided and looked out the front of the window, spotting a gorgeous looking man who seemed to be around Sydney's age. She grinned at the sight of him and threw her door open, pausing only to make sure that Sydney was coming too.

"Stressed." Sydney muttered and followed Charlie's lead, heading to the backseat of the car to nab the basket full of food that she had prepared. Charlie met her at the trunk and when Sydney popped it open, she grabbed the blanket that they had found in Peter's linen closet, which they were going to use to sit on.

"Long time!" The deputy called out and walked towards the two girls with a sexy little smile on his face.

"Not that long." Sydney called back to him and waved her free hand towards Charlie. "My newest friend Charlie, Charlie this is Jordan Parrish."

Charlie rushed forward, tucked the blanket under her arm, and extended her hand for him to shake just as she approached him. He took her hand and gave it a firm shake before studying her. Charlie did the same to him, taking in the sight of him more than once as her eyes scanned up and down his body.

"Is she like you?" Jordan asked and Sydney stepped up behind Charlie, nudging her forward and taking the lead.

"She's a werewolf, yeah, but she's just a beta." Sydney answered and continued walking, all the way around the side of the house and towards the edge of the forest, where there was a flat spot of ground that looked nice enough for a place to picnic.

Charlie ran on ahead and threw the blanket into the air, spreading it out and letting it cover the grass before she plopped down onto her bum and watched as Jordan and Sydney moved in sync, Jordan taking the basket and setting it on the ground while Sydney lowered herself down to sit next to it before lifting the lid up.

"What are you?" Charlie questioned bluntly and Jordan stopped in his movements so that he could look her in the eyes. Sydney patted the side of his leg and motioned for him to sit down, which he did, right next to her.

"I'm not too sure."

"I think he's a phoenix." Sydney added with a smirk.

"What makes you think that?" Charlie asked and continued to watch the two of them. If she hadn't known about Peter and how much Sydney seemed to love him, she would've believed that this Jordan Parrish would've made a decent partner to her alpha.

"Well I'm basing that on Harry Potter." Sydney let out a laugh and Charlie rolled her eyes in a playful way. "His eyes glow orange though; do you know anything about creatures whose eyes glow orange?"

"My dad might, we can always ask him when we get back." Charlie stated. "How did you two meet though? That's what I really want to know."

"I gave her a ride home the night her house burned down." Jordan answered. "Kept running into each other after that."

Charlie looked past the two of them and took in the sight of the charred remains of what she had known to be a house once upon a time. The smell of burnt lumber was strong in the air but Charlie knew better than to complain about putrid smells, especially when she knew there were far worse things than an irritated nasal cavity.

The caution tape was still visible in pieces which had caught onto the debris and Charlie shut her eyes, trying to imagine how the house had looked before it had been destroyed. She could picture Sydney living in a nice house, a large house, and even in her mind, she knew that the little girl version of her alpha would've been happy living in Beacon Hills, a stark contrast to the constantly anxious woman she knew now.

"Fun fact, the sheriff tried to trade me off to you." Sydney said fondly and Charlie opened her eyes, watching the smile on her alpha's face grow as she spoke to the handsome man next to her. "He wanted me away from Peter so he talked you up."

"To be fair, you two _would_ make a cute pair." Charlie remarked and Jordan looked at her with a sad expression etched on his face.

"She was already taken by the time I showed up."

Charlie nodded her understanding and kept her eyes trained on him, his eyes brightening almost instantly as he turned his attention back to the task at hand. Sydney leaned over towards the basket and pulled out three delectable sandwiches, one at a time, and handed them out. She then dove back into the picnic basket and produced a couple bottles of water as well as a couple bottles of apple juice.

"So you're a deputy here?" Charlie spoke, trying to get them all back onto the same track. She didn't want any more awkward conversations or uncomfortable looks from him, if she kept the topics vague, maybe she could avoid the sad eyes that Jordan had given her seconds ago.

"Yes, been here for a little while now and let me tell you, there are a lot of strange things that I was _not_ expecting." Jordan teased and unwrapped the sandwich that Sydney had handed to him.

"So you were here for the human sacrifice thing?" Charlie pressed and freed her own sandwich from the wrapper.

"No, I showed up after. I _just_ missed all that."

"He _did_ get lit on fire though." Sydney perked up and watched as Jordan sighed at what she had just said. "Tell her about that."

"I'm sorry, you were _lit_ on fire? How are you still here then?" Charlie asked, narrowing her eyes in on the deputy, but then she remembered what Sydney had said. The deputy was supernatural and she had mentioned a phoenix. "And if you _are_ a phoenix, well that would potentially help explain why, right? You were really lit on fire?"

"I was. My partner zip tied me to the steering wheel of my very own cruiser, doused me and the car in gasoline and lit me up like a Christmas tree." Jordan explained and stole a glance towards Sydney. "She saw the flames and helped get me out of the inferno."

"Jesus!" Charlie threw herself forward and let her sandwich drop to the blanket in front of her. She crawled towards him and kneeled beside him, bringing her hands upwards.

Sydney tried to keep a straight face and watched as the younger girl ran her fingertips over Jordan's jaw, gently poking and prodding to feel his flesh for herself. If she hadn't been there that night and witnessed Jordan engulfed in flames then Sydney wouldn't have believed it either, yet fortunately for him, she had arrived in time to help get him out of the cruiser and ultimately out of the white hot flames.

"You have flawless skin." Charlie murmured and leaned back on her haunches. Jordan seized the opportunity and peeled off his jacket, revealing a tight fitting dark blue t-shirt that seemed to cling to him like a second skin. Well if Charlie had thought he was gorgeous before, he had just became ten times more attractive in her eyes. "And a flawless everything."

"I like her." Jordan tipped his head towards Sydney and grinned at her as he tossed a thumb in Charlie's direction. "Please tell me you're keeping her."

"That's the plan." Sydney beamed right back at him and fought off laughter as Charlie put her fingers back on his face, this time going a step further and pressing his cheeks together, mushing his face in her hands. "I haven't quite gotten her trained yet though."

Jordan waved a dismissive hand in Sydney's direction and turned his attention to the young girl in front of him. He smiled as she leaned in towards him and studied his skin closer. She was mere inches away from him at this point but Jordan didn't seem fazed, not in the slightest, he just stayed still and let her check him over for any scars from the night he had survived his own personal bonfire.

After about thirty more seconds of Charlie using his face like play doh, she finally relinquished her hold on him and relaxed so that her butt was against the blanket and her sandwich was back in her hand. Jordan glanced between the two girls for a second and then he peered over his shoulder at the remains of what had once been Sydney's childhood home.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything but is there a reason why you wanted to meet me here?" Jordan inquired and lifted his sandwich up, taking a bite of it and chewing politely. Charlie followed his lead and matched his actions, her and Jordan were both peering over at Sydney, who had yet to touch her sandwich, which was still wrapped up.

"I wanted to talk to ask you for your help with something." Sydney replied in a low tone, her eyes peering down at her feet while she thought about the best way to go about asking him. "I want to rebuild the house, _my_ house, but I'm leaving to go back to Colorado in week."

"Okay?" Jordan waved his hand at her, motioning for her to go on.

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me get the ball rolling. I can deal with the administrative stuff in Colorado but it'd be nice to have someone in Beacon Hills that I can count on to make sure everything's headed in the right direction."

"What you're suggesting is that you want a man at the site sort of thing?" Jordan asked and Sydney nodded her head. He was certainly getting it but she didn't want him to agree to help her and then end up doing more than he bargained for.

"Basically. I can dig up the house plans through the county and I can make calls to contractors and all that, but I can't always be around when things get tricky." Sydney explained. "You can totally say no but I was wondering if you'd be my go to man?"

Jordan considered her offer and he glanced down at the sandwich that she had made him. They were friends, albeit not best friends, but he liked her and she liked him. She _had_ pulled him out of a burning cruiser, and she had helped him whenever she could, what harm would it do to accept her proposition? At the very least, he'd have a reason to call her now and then.

"Would you be coming back here during the construction phase at all?" Jordan countered. "Or would you be putting this all on me and me alone?"

"I mean, if you really needed someone here, I could make arrangements to come but I think the intention was to just stay in Colorado until everything's done." Sydney explained. "You can call me any time and if you're desperate, I could always fly in for a day or two."

"I see." Jordan hummed and took a few seconds to come up with his answer.

On one hand it would give him something to do to keep himself occupied in his spare time, on the other hand, he wasn't sure how much spare time he'd actually have. If he could help Sydney out though, if he could bring her childhood home back to life, well, that was enough of a reason for him. He owed her a lot and if doing this for her meant that she trusted him, he'd do it and he'd do it right.

"It's not like she's asking you to build the entire house yourself." Charlie pointed out and Jordan chuckled at her words.

"I know." Jordan shook his head in amusement. Yes, he was really starting to like Sydney's choice in friends. "I'll do it."

"Wait, really?" Sydney stared at him, her eyes widening in shock. Apparently she had been expecting him to say no, or at least a little more resistance on his part. "Are you sure?"

"You helped get me out of a cruiser that was lit on fire." Jordan countered.

"Well I really think you would've survived without me there to help-"

"Stop, okay. I'll do it. I just want one thing in return." Jordan stated and a serious look took over his facial expression.

"What?" Sydney looked right back at him, clearly nervous as to what he was going to ask for.

"If you figure out what I am, or you come up with other theories-"

"We'll let you know. I'll call you myself." Charlie broke in and grinned at him, Jordan smirking at her. "So if you could just give me your number..."

"Seriously, I like her." Jordan teased and Sydney rolled her eyes.

"I like her too." Sydney added in a soft voice.

"Do you like me enough to keep me?" Charlie asked and gave them the puppy dog eyes.

"I think so, yeah." Sydney smiled back at her beta, who immediately scrunched up her nose.

"I was talking to Jordan." Charlie joked and broke out into a fit of laughter. Sydney shook her head and joined her before Jordan reached out and gave Charlie a friendly pat on the knee.

"I'll let Syd hang on to you for now." Jordan chuckled and focused right back on his sandwich.

Sydney held her wrapped sandwich in her hand and carefully peeled back the plastic. She sucked in a breath and turned her attention to what was left of her childhood home, picturing what it would look like once it was rebuilt. She already had plans for when it was done, decorating plans for her baby's room. She was going to paint the ceiling like her mom had done for her when she was a child, a bright, vibrant sky blue with white clouds scattered about, she'd even find glow in the dark star stickers and stick them to the ceiling so that when the lights were off, there would be a night sky.

With the memory of her own sky in her room when she was a kid, Sydney felt her lips turning upwards into a smile.

All she had to do was survive the next several months in Colorado, worrying about her baby.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

"So why didn't you and Jordan ever become a thing?" Charlie posed the question in the car as Sydney drove back to the apartment.

They had a lovely picnic outside of what was left of the Vance house, laughs were had, stories were told and it had seemed like Charlie and Jordan Parrish were getting along rather well.

"I was already Peter's mate by the time I knew he existed." Sydney answered, keeping her eyes on the road ahead of them.

"Okay, well if you and Peter hadn't decided to become mates, would you have gone for Jordan?" Charlie pressed, clearly confused on a few of Sydney's life choices prior to knowing her.

Jordan was nothing but nice, he seemed really genuine for the amount of time that Charlie had spent with him and she knew that his saddened looks had been more for lost hope than anything. Jordan seemed to have a wee bit of a crush on Sydney and Charlie couldn't exactly blame him. Her alpha was a strong person, she was beautiful and smart, anything that a man could want, yet she was taken.

Her pregnancy hadn't come up in conversation either and Charlie had figured that Sydney wasn't about to announce that piece of information to just anyone. Until she had to let people know what was going on, it was clear she'd be hiding her unborn baby's existence.

"I don't know." Sydney shrugged casually. "I love Peter, I really do, and maybe part of me hates him for what he did but I know that he's it for me. If I knew he was going to turn against my friends and my family then maybe I would've reconsidered the whole mate bite thing."

"You don't have to explain it to me. I just think that you and Jordan would make a cute couple."

"Aidan and I have kissed before." Sydney pointed out with a giggle. "How's that for a cute couple?"

"You and Aidan, like the Aidan back in Colorado?" Charlie's eyes widened at Sydney's admission, clearly surprised to hear her confession.

"Yes! Peter and I have been through our fair share of rough patches." Sydney teased. "He knows though, Aidan and I will always just be friends."

Charlie tipped her head to the side and considered all of the things she was learning about not only Sydney but the twins, Jordan Parrish and the pack that Sydney had been a part of before she had become an alpha in her own right. The more that she learned, the more she felt like this was where she was supposed to be, that Sydney would be her best choice for an alpha.

"I know we didn't go last night but if you want, we can drive past that mental institution now if you want." Charlie said in a low tone and glanced over at Sydney, trying to gauge her reaction.

"I guess we could." Sydney nodded her head but it was obvious that the woman driving was merely trying to keep her wits about her at the prospect of getting as close as she was going to get to Peter.

Charlie smiled at her alpha's secret excitement and relaxed into the seat. She looked out the window and watched as Sydney turned down a new street, heading away from where Charlie knew the apartment was located. There wasn't another word shared between them, not until the giant, stone building locked away behind huge iron gates came into view.

Reaching over, Charlie gently set her palm on Sydney's shoulder and gave her a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Sydney sucked in a breath and slowed the car down, bringing it to a stop a few feet away from the front gates with the giant letters spelling out 'Eichen House'.

"I can hear your heart pounding already Syd." Charlie whispered and Sydney's body tensed. "What's going on in your head over there?"

"My chest hurts." She murmured in response and Charlie threw herself towards Sydney, concern flooding her veins. "Charlie…my hands feel funny."

Charlie's eyes were glued to the steering wheel where Sydney carefully peeled her fingers off of. When she was no longer holding on, it was evident just with a glance that something was desperately wrong with Sydney. Her hands were shaking something awful and when Charlie latched onto her wrist, her skin was as cold as ice.

"Jesus Christ!" Charlie exclaimed and reached down, undoing her seatbelt before leaning over Sydney and taking hold of her hands, pinning them against her chest. "Bad idea, this was a bad idea. We need to get you away from here."

"Yeah." Sydney squeaked and Charlie reluctantly let go of Sydney's hands before climbing back over into her own seat.

Making her way out of the car, Charlie ran around the front and nearly ripped the driver's door off its hinges as she tried to get in to get to Sydney. One she had the door open, she reached across and unbuckled Sydney's seatbelt, helping to guide her out of the car where she leaned against the back door and stared at Charlie with tears welling up in her eyes.

Charlie sucked in a breath and lunged for her alpha, wrapping her arms around her and taking her into a comforting embrace. Sydney clung to her and buried her face in her shoulder, letting the tears flow out of her eyes and onto Charlie's shirt.

"It's okay Syd, it's okay." Charlie murmured and debated her next move. She gently pulled Sydney forward and ushered her around the car, never breaking her hold on her.

Sydney sucked in a few shaky breaths and when the two of them were at the passenger side, where Charlie had left the door open, Sydney peeled her body away from Charlie and dropped down, planting her butt on the passenger seat but keeping her legs out, her feet residing on the asphalt of the road.

"Let's get back to the apartment, I can call my dad and see if there's something we can do to get you back to normal." Charlie suggested and Sydney promptly crossed her arms over her chest, trying to calm herself down even the slightest little bit.

She hated crying, hated showing weakness but she was so scared, terrified of what was happening to her. If withdrawal had been bad in the nights she spent in Colorado, this was ten times worse. Her limbs shook violently and her body felt as though it had been encased in a block of ice. Her heart continued to hammer against her chest and Sydney wondered if the pain would ever decrease.

"Your dad…" Sydney fumbled over her words, her mind going blurry with each passing second. "Yeah, yes let's call him."

Charlie gave Sydney a nod of her head and held her hand as she lifted her legs up, putting them in the car. When Sydney was securely inside, Charlie gently shut the door and let out a sigh, hoping that her dad would have some sort of solution, that is, if getting Sydney away from Eichen House didn't help her.

Glancing towards the sky, Charlie made a silent vow, she was going to do everything she could to keep her alpha safe, even if her alpha was constantly promising her the same thing.

They were just going to have to take care of each other and Sydney was going to have to understand that.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Uh oh, what do you think is wrong with Sydney?_**

 ** _Thank you to those wonderful people who reviewed! So Parrish just made an appearance and there will be more of the Beacon Hills gang showing up in the next chapter too! Hang tight, we're getting really close to the actual season!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Never! Yes, of course Chris would've left him with a wifi connection, how else is he supposed to survive haha_**

 ** _midnight1221: well here's another update! thanks for reviewing!_**

 ** _Xhex1: Thanks for the review, I hope you stick with me, there's only a few more chapters until we get right back into the thick of things._**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: Aw, thanks! Did you find this chapter a little more exciting?_**

 ** _Guest (A): Woo! Spoiler alert, Isaac WILL be in this story more in the future! Thanks for the review_**


	12. Chapter 12

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 12** **:**_

Charlie pulled the cell phone away from her ear and glanced towards the bedroom, where Sydney was laying on the bed, under the covers in an attempt to warm herself up. As soon as they had pulled into the parking lot, Charlie had called her father and had been talking to him for the past fifteen minutes, describing the symptoms that Sydney had started experiencing as soon as they were near Eichen House.

She wasn't panicked per say but there was definitely a seed of worry that had been planted in Charlie's mind. If something could easily render her alpha in that sort of state within seconds, then maybe there was a reason to figure out what the hell had happened.

With a final look at the screen of her phone, Charlie hit the end call button and tucked it into the front pocket on her jeans. She prayed that she wouldn't have to call her dad again once they tried what he had suggested but she knew that she would if it came down to it. Even if the girls had only known each other for a short amount of time, Charlie didn't want anyone's blood on her hands.

"Dad thinks that it's just a bad reaction to being so close to your mate without actually being able to see him!" Charlie called out and stepped towards the bedroom.

She paused in the doorway and leaned against the frame, crossing her arms over her chest as she took in the sight of Sydney curled up into a ball under the covers of the bed, her body still shaking, although slightly less than it had been when they had been in the car.

"D-did he suggest a-anything?" Sydney shivered and her words stuttered as a result. Charlie tipped her head to the side and pushed herself away from the doorframe, heading into the room and gently dropping down to sit on the edge of the bed in front of Sydney.

"He said you could try a hot bath, some tea even, basically relaxing things." Charlie answered and Sydney let out a groan, gripping the edge of the blanket tighter in her hands and pulling it up to cover the tip of her chin.

"R-right. So a-a bath it is."

Standing up and stepping away from the bed, Charlie watched as Sydney pushed the covers back, away from her body, and quickly leapt to her feet. Without hesitating even for a second, she took off for the bathroom, stripping off her clothes as she went, leaving Charlie in the bedroom behind her.

The beta hesitated but soon followed suit, gathering up Sydney's discarded clothes as she passed them and draping them over her arms. She closed in on the bathroom door, which was nearly all the way shut, and pressed her forehead against it.

"He meant like really hot water Syd!" Charlie's voice was firm and commanding and it wasn't even seconds later that steam wafted out of the bathroom. "But don't burn yourself!"

Sydney made enough noise inside the bathroom so that Charlie knew exactly what she was doing. There were loud splashing noises as she stepped into the tub and when she sat down, the alpha let out a huge groan, whether it was from the heat of the water or because it was actually working, Charlie wasn't entirely sure, but unless Sydney needed her, she was merely going to stand guard outside the bathroom and hope that this would all be over soon.

A few minutes of silence passed and it wasn't until Charlie heard a phone vibrating from the bedroom that she even dared to speak. She knew it was Sydney's phone, hers was tucked in her pocket, but heading over and just answering it didn't seem appropriate. They weren't that type of friends, at least not yet.

Charlie moved swiftly and stepped into the bedroom, dropping Sydney's clothes on the bed into a pile as she entered. Her eyes immediately landed on the device on the nightstand, which was still vibrating, and she lurched forward, scooping it up with her hand before breaking out into a dash back to the bathroom.

Stopping outside and knocking on the door, if only to be polite, Charlie waited for Sydney to call out to her, inquiring as to why she was knocking on the door.

"I have your phone in my hand, it's vibrating!" Charlie hollered in response and she swore she heard Sydney sigh on the other side of the door.

"Who is it?"

"Uh, caller ID says Stiles."

"Answer it, if you want."

Charlie's finger promptly hit the answer button and she stared at the screen for a couple of seconds before nervously lifting the device up to her ear.

"Hello?" Charlie said into the phone, her voice lower than normal.

"Is this…this is Syd, isn't it?"

"No, it's Charlie."

"Okay, well, where's Syd?"

"She's in the bathroom right now." Charlie answered and wrapped her hand around the edge of the door, opening it a little bit more in the hopes that Sydney would coach her on what to say.

"Get in here!" Sydney yelled with a laugh and Charlie surged forward, stumbling into the bathroom where she locked her eyes on the closed toilet and took a seat, offering the phone to Sydney, who was sitting in the tub, bubbles coating the surface and keeping most of her body hidden from view. "Put it on speaker."

Charlie did as she was told and before either girl had a chance to realize what was going on, Stiles' voice erupted into the bathroom, echoing off the tiled walls.

"Syd!?" Stiles' sounded utterly confused and Charlie felt somewhat bad for not actually explaining to him what was going on and why Sydney hadn't answered her own phone.

"Hey Stiles, I see you've met Charlie, she's the newest addition to the Vance pack." Sydney explained vaguely and Charlie took in the sight of the smile on the older woman's face. "I know we were supposed to meet up for coffee but something came up-"

"Something bad?" Stiles broke in.

"Not exactly, look, I'm going to attempt to make sushi in about an hour for dinner, if you want, you can come over to Peter's place and we can talk. You can even meet Charlie." Sydney offered and Charlie's eyes lit up at the prospect of not only sushi but also meeting someone new, someone that meant a lot to Sydney.

"Uh, well, I- yeah that sounds good. Did you need me to bring anything?" Stiles countered and Sydney looked at Charlie with a questioning look in her eye. Charlie nodded her head yes, signaling that she was quite alright with his invitation, she was excited to meet him and if Sydney had invited him over, that meant that she was hopefully feeling better.

"Nope, you're good."

Charlie waited a little bit longer for Sydney and Stiles to say their goodbyes. Once the conversation was over, she hung up the call and put the phone into her other front pocket so that it was less likely to fall to the ground, or worse, into the bath tub. Sydney looked up at her and forced a smile onto her face, her arms crossed over her chest and hiding her naked body from view even more than when it was just the bubbles.

"Feeling better?" Charlie asked in a hushed whisper.

"Less shaky, definitely warmer." Sydney answered. "Thanks, for calling your dad."

"Hey, no problem, I'm just glad he knew what to do, sort of." Charlie smirked at her friend and made a move to stand up. Sydney leaned forward and twisted her body so that she was facing Charlie, her hands falling away from her body and her palms resting on the edge of the tub.

"I'll be out in a little while, then I'll make you sushi." Sydney remarked and Charlie nodded her head, signaling that she heard her. "Seriously though, thank you for being here with me."

"Thanks for bringing me." Charlie bowed her head and stood up to her full height. "I'll put your phone back in the bedroom."

"Okay."

Without another word shared between them, Charlie wandered out of the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind her. Sydney remained in the hot bath water and relaxed against the end of the tub, letting the temperature soothe her.

Whatever had happened to her at Eichen House, whatever had caused her body to do what it had done, scared her and if Charlie hadn't been right there with her, she wasn't sure what she would've done.

Not having Peter with her was wearing on her, draining her to the point where she didn't know what to do with herself. If she could just make it through the rest of their time in California and get back to Colorado, she knew she stood a better chance, at least there she had the twins and Steve and even if they weren't who she needed, they were the best she had.

She wouldn't trade them for anything though.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney seemed to be in good spirits by the time a knock sounded out on the apartment door. Pausing in her first attempts at making sushi, she strode across the kitchen and pulled the door open, her lips turning up into a smile instantly at the sight of Stiles standing there in the hallway.

"I have missed you." He breathed the words out and lifted his hands about halfway up before letting them drop back down to his sides, his palms slapping against his thighs. "Like, you have no idea."

"I've missed you too." Sydney replied and waved him in, closing the door behind him as he stepped inside. She threw the lock across and crossed her arms over her chest, one of Peter's t-shirts hanging loosely on her frame while a pair of nearly worn out jeans adorned her lower half. Clearly she had handled her little withdrawal incident decently, she was no longer freezing and her limbs had stopped shaking, for the most part. "I'm glad to see you're doing okay without me around."

"No, no, not doing okay without you. You're too far away and I don't like it, I don't like it at all!" Stiles stopped moving after a few steps and abruptly turned to face her. He didn't even have enough time to prepare himself before Sydney launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight, finally feeling relaxed as she gripped him against her.

Cautiously Stiles lifted his own hands up and rested them on her lower back, just holding her against him as she took in his scent and the feel of him in her hold. When she made a move to pull away, he tightened his grip on her for a split second and then relinquished his hold on her altogether, letting space drift between them.

Sydney trailed her palm down his arm and latched onto his wrist, tugging him along behind her as she marched towards the kitchen and ultimately towards Charlie, who was perched on one of the stools at the island. Charlie dropped her feet down to the floor and met them when they were a few steps away. Her hand was stuck out for him to shake and when Sydney realized that the two teenagers were going to be conversing while she busied herself with dinner, she let go of Stiles and went right back to making her sushi, which seemed to be looking better than she figured it would.

"This is Charlie." Sydney called out over her shoulder and Stiles took the girl's hand in his, shaking it once and then letting it go. "Charlie, this is Stiles."

"You're Syd's new beta, right?" Stiles questioned and took a seat on the vacant stool, the one that Charlie hadn't been sitting on seconds before.

"Yes."

"Did she bite you?" Stiles' cocked his head to the side and wondered what the girl's story was. If Sydney had bitten her then there had to have been a reason, right? Maybe she had been hurt and needed the bite to live, or maybe-

"No, actually her mom did when I was just a little kid." Charlie spoke out, breaking into Stiles' train of thoughts and silencing the questions in his head, at least for the time being.

"Oh." He remarked casually and furrowed his eyebrows.

"You looked confused." Charlie pointed out with an amused smirk.

"I'm just trying to uh, to piece it together." Stiles mumbled and Sydney sauntered over, three empty glasses in her possession.

"Charlie's a Colorado native, my mom did her dad a favour one time when she was there." Sydney explained vaguely and Stiles gave her a nod of understanding but he opened his mouth, ready to ask more questions. "Her and her mom were in an accident, my mom bit her to save her life."

"Riiight." Stiles drawled and set his palm on the surface of the island, his fingers drumming loudly. "How did her dad-"

"Her dad's like Deaton." Sydney cut him off.

"He's…he's _like_ Deaton?"

"Yeah, he knows all sorts of things about werewolves, unlike Deaton though, he's a real doctor, a human doctor, not just a vet." Sydney said with a chuckle.

"So how'd you two meet then?" Stiles pressed and looked between the two girls. Sydney waved her hand towards Charlie and headed on over to the fridge.

"Syd came in to see my dad because she was having some issues." Charlie responded and watched as Sydney tensed up at the fridge. She opened the door and grabbed the carton of orange juice before moving away and letting the appliance door fall shut behind her.

"What kind of issues?" Stiles narrowed his eyes in on the alpha in question and looked at her expectantly. Sydney ignored him for the time being and busied herself with filling the glasses. "Syd, what _kind_ of issues?"

Sydney threw a nervous smile on her face, put the cap back on the orange juice and leveled her gaze on Stiles, "withdrawal, from my mate."

"Withdrawal? Wait, what's that like?"

"Chills, shakes, nightmares." Sydney shrugged nonchalantly before turning around and moving back to the fridge to put the juice away. Charlie leaned forward and rested her elbows on the island, studying Sydney's every movement, looking for a reason as to why the girl would be giving off an anxious aura.

"It spiked when we drove past Eichen House." Charlie announced in an attempt to steer the conversation back to the present. "That's why I had to answer the phone earlier, Syd was trying to calm down."

Stiles nodded his understanding and remained quiet, clearly running out of questions, either that or he had come up with way more questions in his head and he was trying to figure out which one he wanted to ask first.

"Why don't you just use tranquilizers or something?" Stiles piped up.

Sydney, who had grabbed a few of the first sushi rolls that she attempted and put them on a plate, turned to face him and took her bottom lip in between her teeth. She walked over to the island and set the plate of rolls on the surface, motioning for the two of them to go ahead and try the food. Charlie, who had been eager to dig in ever since she had found out that Sydney was actually going to make her sushi, grabbed one of the rolls and stuffed it into her mouth, biting off half of it before nodding her head.

"Drugs probably aren't the best solution." Sydney stated.

"Because of your werewolf powers?" Stiles tilted his head to the side and went ahead, grabbing one of the rolls.

"Probably because she's pregnant." Charlie spoke up, her mouth full of sushi.

"I'm sorry, what!?" Stiles slammed his palms on the surface of the island and leaned forward, locking his eyes on Sydney. Her face fell at Charlie's confession but she wasn't going to freak out, not yet at least. Stiles was trustworthy, right? She could trust him, plus who was he going to tell?

She didn't care what Scott thought of her, Stiles would never say anything to Malia and even if he wanted to, Sydney was sure that Peter's teenage daughter wouldn't want to hear about her. Unless Stiles and Liam had suddenly become best friends, she doubted Stiles shared all that much with the younger boy either.

"I'm pregnant." Sydney breathed the words out and held her breath, waiting for Stiles to go crazy.

When all he did was stare at her though, she wondered if he had heard her clearly. It was rare that Stiles was ever rendered speechless so what the hell was wrong with him?

"Did you hear-"

"I heard what you said!" Stiles barked. He gawked at Sydney, looking her up and down as though he was searching for evidence of her statement being true. "Is it…is it Peter's?"

"Yes." Sydney whispered and dropped her gaze to the floor.

"Are you sure?"

"Am I sure, really? Yes I'm sure. I haven't been with anyone else since I left Derek's pack. Look, I'm not going to blame you if you're a little weirded out by-"

"You're pregnant." Stiles said out loud and shook his head. "With Peter Hale's kid."

"That's what she said." Charlie grumbled and seized another roll off the plate. " _You_ should learn to listen."

"Peter Hale's kid." Stiles muttered and shook his head again. "Really?"

Charlie clamped her mouth shut and looked at Sydney, catching the woman's gaze. Sydney shrugged her shoulders and took hold of one of the rolls off the plate, lifting it up to her nose and taking a sniff. She let the scent of the fish linger in front of her face before opening her mouth and taking a bite.

Stiles lowered his head down and rested his chin against the edge of the island. His hands came up over his head and he waved them in the air before sitting back up and pointing right at Sydney.

"You're pregnant!" Stiles gaped at her.

"Yes." Sydney nodded.

"You and Peter created a baby."

"Exactly."

"That means that you two had sex-"

" _That's_ what you're more concerned about?" Sydney growled. "Oh my god, Stiles, get it through your head already."

"I just, I don't know anyone who would-"

"Let it go." Charlie groaned and suddenly all eyes were on her. Sydney had a relieved expression on her face and Stiles looked more shocked than anything. "She's pregnant, get over it. Just because you don't understand why she wants to be with Peter doesn't mean that it's impossible."

"Your beta huh?" Stiles inquired and peeled his eyes away from Charlie, looking right into Sydney's glowing red eyes. She blinked though and forced the red away before letting out a sigh.

"I didn't intend for this to happen okay, it was an accident, it's not like it hasn't happened before. How _is_ Malia doing anyways?"

Charlie let out an 'ooh' and grinned as Stiles struggled to maintain his calm composure. Sydney jerked her hand at him, signaling for him to answer the question but when Stiles remained quiet, he knew he'd have to let it go. Sydney was pregnant, with Peter's baby, and he'd have to get over it if he wanted to keep her in his life, which he desperately did. He liked Sydney, respected her and he knew that she was a decent ally to have.

If he gave her up simply because he couldn't wrap his head around why anyone would willing reproduce with a psychopath, well that'd just be stupid. Stiles huffed out a breath and his body seemed to relax at the motion.

"I just want you to be okay." Stiles said in a low voice.

"I will be." Sydney's tone softened as she replied. "You should know that the real reason I'm here is to get the rebuild on my old house started, I don't know if I'll end up staying but I plan on coming back here once I have a place to live."

"You could stay here." Stiles pointed out and waved his hand in the air, implying that she could definitely just stick around and stay in Peter's apartment.

"It's easier to deal with the withdrawal if I'm farther away, as Charlie and I learned today. If I stay here, chances are good that I'll have more flare ups."

Stiles bowed his head downwards and stared at his fingers, contemplating the next words that would come out of his mouth. He wanted to let Sydney know that she was wanted here, he had to make her understand that she was welcome in Beacon Hills, but he also wanted her to be happy. If Colorado made her happy then who was he to stand in the way.

"I can't believe I'm going to ask this but what happens if Peter ever gets out?" Stiles asked, his tone firm.

"I don't know. You can send him to Colorado, or give me a call." Sydney proposed. "Have you been in contact with him at all?"

"With Peter, no."

"Okay. What about Derek?"

"Not lately, have you?"

"I texted him the other day, he texts back once in a while."

"Does he know…about your uh, predicament?" Stiles waved his hand towards her and Sydney shook her head no. Derek definitely didn't know about her pregnancy, and he wouldn't until she thought it was the right time. It wasn't something she wanted to tell him via a text message and she wasn't sure when she'd lay her eyes on Derek again.

"You, Charlie, the twins and Steve, Charlie's dad, are the only ones that know." Sydney said.

"Isaac might know." Charlie piped up and shied away from Sydney's accusatory glare. "To be fair, I didn't know that you knew him, I just told him that my new alpha was pregnant."

"Wait, you know…Isaac? The Isaac? Scarf wearing Isaac?" Stiles seemed very interested to hear the story of how Charlie knew the Isaac Lahey, especially considering the kid had been left in France by none other than Chris Argent.

"They met online." Sydney huffed. "And yes, scarf wearing Isaac."

"Now this is a story I need to hear."

Sydney shook her head at Stiles' enthusiasm but before she could get involved in Charlie telling him what had happened, she turned back around and made her way back to her makeshift assembly line.

Quietly listening in as Charlie told him everything he wanted to know, Sydney finished off the next batch of sushi and grabbed a new plate out of the cupboard. She placed the rolls onto the plate and walked over to the island, setting it down and taking the empty plate over to the sink.

"What a coincidence huh?" Stiles' voice caught Sydney's attention and she turned to face the two teenagers, who seemed to be getting along rather well at the island as they continued to eat sushi.

"You mean that Charlie knows Isaac?"

"Yeah, that and the fact that your mom was the one who turned her. I don't think you could've done that any better if you tried."

Sydney let out an amused scoff, he was right; she definitely couldn't have fared any better, even if she had tried. She had never been one to believe much in fate but maybe everything was finally coming together for her. She had Charlie in her pack, she had Steve looking out for her _and_ she had the twins who would do anything and everything they could for her.

Things were definitely not as bleak as they had felt when she had first arrived in Beacon Hills, maybe the trip with Charlie was exactly what she needed. She considered herself lucky and so what if she wasn't in a position that she had planned for. Being pregnant suddenly didn't feel so scary because whether or not Peter was with her, she knew she'd be okay.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Did you guys like Stiles' appearance? How about his views on things regarding Sydney and her pack?_**

 ** _Thank you to those wonderful people who reviewed! This is the last chapter before we get into the season 5 action!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Next chapter, everything gets going!_**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: I hope you enjoyed this installment as well?_**

 ** _If you guys leave me enough reviews (5 or more), I'll give you guys another bonus posting!_**


	13. Chapter 13

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 13:**_

 _ **Six Months Later…**_

Bruin Lee was perfect, in every sense of the word: ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes, a nose and a mouth. What more could Sydney have asked for?

Aside from the panic of labour that Sydney had gone through nearly a month before she was due, everything about her pregnancy, as well as the delivery, had gone rather smoothly.

When Steve explained to her that the stress of the withdrawal on her body had been the primary factor in Bruin being born almost a month premature, Sydney had freaked out, she had been upset that she had let something like mate withdrawal jeopardize her baby's health, but in the end, Steve had saved the day. He had helped bring the tiny baby into the world and now, after a few weeks with Bruin in her life, Sydney had already forgotten those panicked few hours before the baby had made her grand entrance into the world.

The exhaustion was a big factor though, big enough to put a stop to any and all training sessions involving the alpha. She was much too tired, what with the baby being up a few times during the night, which was a welcome relief to the rest of her pack.

They had all been training hard core in the months before Bruin had joined them in the world. Aside from the fact that Charlie wasn't spending as much time at the house as she usually did, not much in the way of the pack's routine had changed. Aidan and Ethan were still working on the bestiary, which had grown significantly in the last few months. The two of them were even working on picking out more specific details pertaining to the creatures that they had been researching.

All in all, everything seemed to be running rather smoothly, with just a few tiny blips on the radar.

It was the middle of the afternoon after a particularly difficult night with the newborn and Sydney was laying sprawled out on her bed, tiny baby Bruin was on her back on the bed next to her. Sydney's hands were on Bruin's hands and feet constantly, feeling the soft skin of the little girl at every opportunity. After just a few weeks of motherhood, Sydney was already starting to wonder how she could've ever said that she didn't want kids.

Bruin was an absolute doll, the only thing really missing was the girl's father.

Pulling her phone out of the front pocket on her jeans, Sydney reluctantly let go of Bruin's hand and made quick work of snapping a picture of her baby. With a smile on her face, she punched in Stiles' number and hit the send button, hoping that he was still enjoying the photographs after she had already sent him a ton of them. It hadn't been too long after her and Charlie had had sushi with Stiles that he had called her and confessed that he had let it slip to his father that Sydney was pregnant.

She was a little upset at first but it didn't take too long for her to realize that eventually people were going to find out, plus the sheriff had always been the closest thing to a father that she had any time she was in Beacon Hills.

"Bruin, my little Bruin." Sydney murmured and waited for Stiles' reply, but she moved her hand down and gingerly played with the baby's toes. She'd never get tired of touching and feeling Bruin, she was a miracle, the sweetest little girl that she had ever laid eyes on, and the second she had made her grand entrance into the world, Sydney had vowed that nothing was ever going to hurt her.

The baby cooed in response and continued to wiggle her teeny little limbs, her eyes fluttering shut as she moved. When the sound of soft footfalls caught Sydney's attention, she looked towards the door and rolled onto her side, moving closer to Bruin but being careful not to squish her.

Ethan poked his head into the room and he grinned at her, waiting for Sydney to wave him in, which she did within seconds of seeing him. Ethan had a bit of a bounce to his step and he waltzed across the floor, gently dropping his butt down to the edge of the bed on the opposite side of Bruin, the tiny baby stuck between them.

Sydney looked up at him and smiled as he shifted on the bed, moving into a laying down position, his back against the bed and his hands moving upwards to rest behind his head. Ethan tilted his head to the side and watched Bruin squirm on the comforter, soft noises erupting from her mouth.

"Nap time?" Ethan teased and Sydney relaxed her head into the pillows and held her hand over top of Bruin, who latched her miniscule fingers onto her thumb.

"No." Sydney mumbled and let out a contented sigh. "I was just texting Stiles."

"Another picture for him and the sheriff?" Ethan asked with a knowing look and Sydney chuckled at him.

"Aside from you, Aidan, Charlie and Steve, they're the closest thing to family that I've got."

Ethan nodded his head in understanding and let his own eyes fall shut. He had no intention of sleeping but resting on Sydney's bed with the comforting sounds of Bruin cooing was almost too good to pass up. He absolutely adored the baby and, just like Sydney, he would do anything to keep her from getting hurt, the same as his brother.

Sydney set her phone down on the bed in the tiny space between her stomach and Bruin's side. It was on vibrate so that she'd know if someone was trying to get a hold of her, but at the same time, it would be quiet enough not to disturb Bruin if she happened to fall asleep.

"Is Charlie coming over today?" Ethan questioned and opened his eyes, looking at Sydney and waiting for her answer.

"Um, I'm not too sure. You can call her if you want. If you guys want to train, I can sit out back with Bruin and watch?" Sydney offered in response and Ethan's grin grew at her words. "What? What's got you all happy?"

"Honestly, I kind of like this down time. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the training and if it wasn't for you pushing us, Aidan and I wouldn't be as close as we are to doing our mutant thing again, but it's been really nice not having to worry about working ourselves to the bone lately."

Sydney nodded her head in understanding. It wasn't like she had been trying to push them to their limits but with each passing week of her pregnancy, her emotions had run wild. In her head, she wanted her pack to be able to fend off any and all attacks that would even come close to threatening Bruin's well-being. She just wanted them to be prepared and if that meant pushing her betas until they were ready to collapse from exhaustion, then that's what she was going to do.

"Yeah well, don't get too used to it." Sydney countered but there was absolutely no conviction in her tone. The twins, and Charlie, were fully aware that Sydney was going to take quite a while to get back to her usual self, she needed to find a routine that worked with Bruin and so far, she was having no such luck. No one was all that concerned though, the girl was only a few weeks old and they knew that it was a tough adjustment for them all.

"Plus we have to hit up Beacon Hills at some point, check out your new house right?" Ethan pointed out and shimmied down further on the bed. He too rolled onto his side and faced Sydney, moving his hand out and offering it to Bruin, who immediately let go of her mother's thumb and latched onto Ethan's pinky finger. " _And_ show off this little cutie too."

" _And_ to see if we can get Peter back." She threw in, her voice low. "He's missed everything so far, I want him here, with me and Bruin."

"While I don't exactly like that, I know that he deserves to be in Bruin's life. Whatever you need, Aidan and I will be right there to help you get it and if that's making an attempt to get Peter back, so be it."

Sydney sucked in a breath, held it for a few seconds and then let it out. She knew that the twins weren't exactly thrilled with Peter's mere existence but they were fairly accepting of her need for him to be with her. While her withdrawal symptoms hadn't been too bad lately, Sydney figured that once she wasn't constantly exhausted, they'd get worse again. Right now she had a distraction.

"I'm hoping that Bruin will make him realize that there's more to life than just power." Sydney murmured sadly. He had missed everything so far and he didn't even know about Bruin's existence. If she could somehow manage to find Peter and talk to him, maybe she could convince him that she was all he needed, and if that didn't work, maybe she could convince him that _Bruin_ was all he needed. "I fell in love with an asshole."

"Oh, I know that." Ethan chuckled and Sydney shot him a glare, but seconds later, she smiled at him, the sadness of not having Bruin's father with them ever present in her eyes. "I also know that you don't always get to choose _who_ you fall in love with. I just hope that you're right, I want you to make him understand that being a murderous psychopath isn't the best way to live his life."

"Hey now, I didn't say I was going to do that." Sydney laughed and Ethan couldn't help but revel in how happy she looked at that very second. Even without Peter by her side, she was doing really well. She was surviving, she was taking care of herself, and Bruin, it was almost as though the absence of Peter and Beacon Hills was helping her thrive.

"I'm going to go back downstairs and work on the bestiary, if you need anything, just call, okay?"

"I always do." She smiled and settled into her bed, watching as Ethan reluctantly rolled off her bed and landed with his feet on the floor. Her eyes never left him as he moseyed out of her room and only when he was no longer within her line of sight did she turn her attention back to Bruin, who was slowly but surely falling asleep.

She stared at the baby, taking in the sight of her, the smell of her, every little detail of her very own daughter. Nothing would ever break Sydney's belief that her baby was nothing short of perfection; her bright brown eyes looked so much like her own that the resemblance was uncanny, her dark hair covered her head, even just weeks after her birth.

Sydney forced her alpha red eyes out and locked her gaze with Bruin's, waiting for the baby to do exactly what she was anticipating. When Bruin's eyes just barely flickered gold, Sydney let out a breath and leaned down, pressing a sweet little kiss against the side of her head.

Bruin's eyes fell completely shut and Sydney gently ran her finger up and down her arm, watching Bruin twitch as she tickled her with her touch. After a few seconds of silence, the vibrating of her phone caught her attention and she grabbed the device off the bed, looking at the screen and letting out a little laugh.

Hitting the answer button, Sydney lifted her phone up to her ear, "Hey Parrish."

"It's Jordan, or Deputy Parrish." The deputy teased in response and she felt her body relaxing at the man's voice. "How have you been?"

"Good, tired but good. It's been pretty busy here in Colorado. How about over there in Beacon?"

"Great, actually. I wanted to call and let you know that you're house is done, well, aside from a few finishing touches."

"Yeah?" Sydney sat up carefully and lifted her shoulder up, squishing the phone between her ear and her shoulder before gently scooping Bruin up into her arms. "Already?"

"Yup." Jordan chuckled. "Apparently when you're working under the supervision of a deputy, you tend to work a little harder."

"Oh I see." Sydney laughed along with him and carefully readjusted Bruin in her hold so that she was cradling her baby girl. "I guess I should make a point to see the finished product in person huh?"

"I think that makes sense." Jordan replied.

"Give me a few days to get my stuff together and I'll hit the road. By the way, there's someone I want you to meet." Sydney couldn't help but smile down at Bruin, who was snoring softly in her mother's hold, Sydney's free hand resting gingerly on Bruin's chest.

"What, like another new beta?" Jordan countered and Sydney stifled a laugh.

"Something like that." Sydney giggled and let Jordan say his goodbyes. Once he was gone, she reached up and took hold of her phone, noticing that she had received a text message during the call. Stiles had replied to her picture, 'dad likes that one', which only served to make Sydney smile more.

She debated dialing the teenager's number and calling him but came to the conclusion that she had to get her pack together and tell them the news first, so instead of calling Stiles, she shot him a text right back, this one reading 'Good news Stiles, I'm coming _home_ '.

Now all she had to do was get Aidan, Ethan, Charlie and especially Steve on board.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

It wasn't even two full days later that Sydney and her pack were ready to go. Her car was loaded up with her suitcase, and Bruin's things; Charlie's bags were shoved in the truck and the twins had managed to get most of their stuff strapped to their motorcycles. Steve had been accepting of Charlie heading to Beacon Hills with them, but he knew that Sydney was going to look after her, just like she had been doing ever since Charlie became pack.

The idea of spending two days on the road, and a night in a hotel, with a newborn was the most nerve-wracking part of the journey. The twins considered themselves lucky that they were riding their bikes to California, but that didn't mean they'd be able to get away from Bruin during pit stops and when they called it a night. Sydney had gotten the boys their own hotel room but it was right next door to her and Charlie's, so they weren't completely off the hook.

Overall, it was starting to sound like fun, heading back to Beacon Hills with her pack, enrolling Charlie at the high school so that she could finish out her school and spend her senior year, or at least part of it, making new friends.

Charlie and Stiles had spoken a few times over the past few months so she wasn't going into senior year totally alone, plus she had heard about Scott McCall, Kira Yukimura, Lydia Martin and the infamous Malia Hale, and part of her was excited to actually meet them too. It was a step up from her previous year in high school, where she had started off with a few of her pack mates and then losing them to the attack that had obliterated her former pack.

Yes, Charlie was actually looking forward to a fresh start, even if it meant leaving her dad behind.

Steve had promised to visit at every opportunity he could but both Sydney and Charlie knew he had a job, he had patients to look after, which meant that even if he wanted to join them, he couldn't have, not on such short notice, but the man was doing pretty good dealing with the fact that his daughter was heading off to a different state. At the very least, he had faith that Sydney, and the twins, would look out for her.

With Bruin strapped into her car seat in the backseat of Sydney's car, they were nearly ready to go. The twins sat on their bikes, their helmets on the handlebars, but nonetheless, they were just about good to go. All that was left was for Charlie to say goodbye to her father, and then for Sydney to do the same.

Sydney leaned against the back door of her car and glanced down into the backseat, checking on Bruin. The baby was sleeping soundly in her car seat but Sydney knew that wasn't going to last the whole trip, eventually Bruin would wake up hungry or with a dirty diaper, and then they'd have to stop and take care of her, but the entire pack knew what was happening, they were expecting numerous stops, and they had all seemed good with it.

She pulled her eyes away from Bruin and looked at Charlie, who was standing in front of her dad, a backpack slung over her shoulders and a smile on her face. It was times like these, watching Charlie interacting with her father, that made Sydney realize how badly she wanted Peter back in her life.

"If you so much as get a 'C' in any of your classes, I will have you back here so fast-"

"Dad, I got this." Charlie cut him off. "I'm not going to let you down, okay?"

Steve pressed his lips together and nodded his understanding. As hard as it was to let her go, it was only temporarily, at some point she'd be coming back to Colorado, plus he was already trying to clear his schedule in a few weeks to head out and visit her in Beacon Hills.

"And if you get into any sort of trouble, you go right to Syd, or you call me, understood?" Steve asked, hoping that he could keep himself together until after she was gone. "I don't need you trying to take care of something that you can't handle on your own, even if you think that you can."

Charlie cocked her head to the side in confusion but her lips turned up into a smile, "okay dad."

"I was actually thinking that I might have one of the twins follow her around for the first few days, just to make sure everything's kosher." Sydney threw in from her position against the car.

"Oh yeah, I really like that idea." Steve smiled at the alpha and gave her an encouraging nod. He trusted Sydney, he liked her, and he knew that she wasn't about to let anything happen to Charlie.

"Dad." Charlie whined but stepped forward and let him envelop her into a hug. She gripped him tightly and snuggled against his chest as he kissed the top of her head. Steve gave her one final squeeze and reluctantly let her go, giving her a gentle nudge towards the car.

Charlie wandered around to the driver's side, pulled the back door open and slipped her backpack onto the floor, then she shut the door and hopped into the front seat, where she would be spending most of the trip driving her and her alpha. Sydney had wanted to be free to look after Bruin whenever the baby needed her and Charlie had agreed, plus it was always exciting when she got to drive.

Steve pointed directly at Sydney and crooked his finger at her, signaling for her to come forward. She pushed herself off the car and closed in on him, coming a stop in front of him with just a couple of feet of space between them. She knew what he was up to, she had been anticipating this from the second that she had called Charlie up and told her they were heading back to California, she just hoped that Steve didn't change his mind at the last minute and not let Charlie go.

"Remember, she's still a minor."

"I know." Sydney murmured in response and stole a glance back at the car before giving Steve her undivided attention. She understood his anxiety, after all, this was his only daughter and he had already lost his wife: Charlie was all he had left.

"She _needs_ to finish school." Steve stated.

"I will personally help her with all of her assignments, _if_ she needs help of course." Sydney replied nonchalantly, as though this speech of his was the most normal thing in the world.

"And she's not as experienced as you, even if you have been helping her train, so she might not be able to handle situations the same way as you, or even the twins."

"Like I said before, I will have one of the twins watch her for the first few days and if I sense any sort of danger, I'll send the other twin after her too."

"Good, so you're not going to let anything happen to my little girl?"

"Not in a million years." Sydney bowed her head and looked up at the feeling of Steve's hand on her shoulder. "I know what it feels like to lose the only family that you have, I'm not going to let that happen to you."

"Then I have some things to tell you too."

"Like what?"

"I talked to Deaton, I faxed him all the paperwork that I have at my office pertaining to you, and Charlie. He said that if you, or any of your pack, end up hurt for any reason that he'll be willing to help you out as a favour to me. He also knows about Bruin and at some point within the next few weeks, he's expecting you to take her in for an impromptu checkup." Steve explained and Sydney furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion.

"You did all that, for me?"

"My daughter is your beta, if she's part of your pack, then so am I." Steve said firmly and Sydney couldn't help but smile at his admission. "I am trusting you with Charlie's life, it's just nice to have Deaton in the know so that he can help if anything comes up."

Sydney nodded her head and took her bottom lip in between her teeth. She stole another look at her car and couldn't help but feel like this trip was going to be good, it was going to be okay and she wasn't going to let anyone get hurt.

Steve took a step forwards and brought Sydney's attention back to him. Before she knew what was happening, he had her in a hug, very much like the one that he had given to Charlie, and she relaxed against him, basking in the warmth that radiated off his body.

She gently set her arms around him too and when he pulled away, she leaned in and gave him a sweet little kiss on his cheek.

"Nothing's going to happen to her, I swear on my life." Sydney announced and pulled away from him. She took a step towards the car but didn't break eye contact. When Steve lifted his hand up and tossed her a wave, she mirrored his action and finally turned her back to him.

Without further ado, Sydney walked over to the car, gave the twins a thumbs up and disappeared into the passenger side. The twins peeled their helmets off the handlebars and lifted them up, putting them on their heads and starting up their motorcycles.

The car moved out first, cautiously pulling onto the road and heading down to the end of the street. Aidan and Ethan pulled out of the driveway one at a time and fell in line behind the car, the vehicles getting smaller as they moved further and further away from the house.

Steve was left standing in the middle of the driveway watching as his daughter and her pack headed out for Beacon Hills, California. With a soft sight, he looked back at Sydney's house, the house he had volunteered to look after and he silently prayed that everything would be okay.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _We're getting into the start of season 5 coming up! How did you guys like the chapter?_**

 ** _If I get enough reviews, I'll post another chapter early and just to let you all know, once the season is officially over, I'll be updating on a more frequent basis!_**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: Thank you, I appreciate your feedback and I hope that you continue to enjoy this story. Malia, oh she'll definitely find out and her reaction, well, you'll just have to wait to find out ;)_**

 ** _Guest: Thank you so much! Did you love this chapter as well?_**


	14. Chapter 14

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 14:**_

It was still light out when the four of them, plus Bruin, had arrived at Sydney's newly re-built childhood home. As soon as they had pulled into the driveway, Sydney had been mesmerized by the finished product. Sure she had been expecting a house to be built on the lot but this particular house was immaculate, and it looked nearly identical to the one that had been burnt down all those months ago.

While she had told Parrish that she wanted it to be the same house as before, she had been expecting a few differences, but so far, at least on the outside, it looked _exactly_ the same. Parrish had texted her on the final leg of the drive and informed her that he had to head into work and that he had left the keys tucked under the windowsill of the front window.

Sydney had fought against her desire to just run to the house and burst inside, no, she had to be the alpha, she had to be a mom first so, while she hung back and finagled Bruin free from her car seat, she had sent the twins ahead to scope the place out, the two of them locating the key with ease and making quick work of unlocking the front door. They had the door wide open as Charlie, Sydney and Bruin, who was in her mother's arms, stepped up onto the front porch, the bags being left behind for the time being, at least until they all had a good look around.

"Smells like a storm." Ethan mumbled as he remained outside on the porch and let the girls step into the house first, like the gentleman that he was.

Sydney shot him a glance and nodded her head in agreement, it certainly did smell like a storm and if the sky was any indication of how bad a storm it was going to be, well, the dark grey clouds weren't a sign of just a light rain.

The four of them wandered into the house cautiously, Aidan searching for and locating the light switch, which illuminated the kitchen as he flipped it. They all stood still and took a look around the room, taking in the sight of the gorgeous kitchen. Sydney was rendered completely speechless at how well the builders had done on recreating her childhood home. Her house looked the same on the inside, just like it had on the outside, and she couldn't have been happier.

Leaving her betas on the main floor, Sydney gripped Bruin against her chest a little tighter and made her way up the stairs, taking in the sight of the stairwell, then the hallway, then the bathroom, then what would've been her parents' room but was most likely going to be Charlie's for the time being. When she turned into what was supposed to be _her_ room, she felt the tears welling up in her eyes at how much it looked like she remembered.

Everything was exactly like she could recall, right down to the bright blue sky with vibrant white clouds painted on the ceiling which had always been her favourite part of the room when she had been a child. She moseyed on inside and lowered herself down onto the bed, which was complete with clean sheets and fresh pillows, and then she gingerly laid down on her back, carefully setting Bruin down on the bed next to her.

There was no crib in the house, which was fine by Sydney, she still hadn't told Jordan about her new baby, meaning he wouldn't have known enough to get hold of a crib, but that was okay, she had tucked the portable play pen into the trunk, which would do for the night. She'd work on getting her hands on a crib the following morning, either that or ask if one of the twins wanted to give it a go once Charlie was at school.

At the fleeting thought of her youngest beta heading into her senior year, Sydney let out a sigh and felt herself wondering which of the twins would keep an eye on her first. Over the past few months, the twins and Charlie had grown exceptionally close and if there hadn't been a certain Isaac Lahey over in France that Charlie talked to all the time on the phone, or through texts, then she wouldn't have been surprised if her and Aidan had gotten to be a little more than just friends.

"Hey baby, look at the sky." Sydney murmured and turned her attention to Bruin, who was lying on her back beside her, her little arms waving in the air as cooing noises flowed from her mouth. "It's pretty isn't it? You know, my mom painted a sky just like it for me when I was a kid."

Peeling her eyes off of Bruin, Sydney looked around the room and sucked in a breath. It was quite overwhelming to see her house in such an immaculate condition, even the last time she had visited before it had been burned to the ground warranted a little concern. The house had been abandoned for fifteen years until Peter and her had ventured inside. There had been ample dust build up on everything, cobwebs clinging to the corners of walls and on the ceilings and the overpowering smell of stale blood, which had never been cleaned off the walls in the kitchen. Yes, this, here and now, was certainly a step above that and Sydney was happy to have her house back.

It was perfect, just like her baby girl.

"Syd!" Charlie's voice echoed in the hallway outside of her door and she looked to the doorway in time to see the girl appear there, Charlie casually leaning against the doorframe and staring at her alpha. "We need food."

"Uh, right." Sydney slowly sat up and scooped Bruin into her arms, cradling the baby against her chest before pressing a reassuring kiss down on her head. "Let me just get my stuff inside, then I can take a trip to the store or something."

"Aidan said he could go." Charlie offered nonchalantly and glanced over her shoulder quickly before turning her head right back around to face Sydney.

"I want to head over to the apartment and grab some things from there too though, so, if you don't mind watching Bruin here for an hour or so, I can take care of food."

Charlie shrugged at her alpha and stepped into the room, moving to sit down next to her, "that's fine with me."

"Yeah, good. You should be getting ready for your first day of school tomorrow anyways, maybe the twins can help you get your backpack ready? Do you have everything you need?"

"Pfft, I don't need help with that and yes, I've got everything I'm going to need. My only concern at this point in time though is which room do I get?"

Letting out a scoff, Sydney stood up and motioned for Charlie to follow her. She led her out into the hall and across the way into the room that had once been her parents' room. It looked different but only because the furniture was significantly newer, updated even, yet it still looked beautiful and reminded Sydney that she had once been a happy little girl, living in the house with her parents, who had loved her with everything they had.

Stepping into the room further, Charlie brushed past Sydney and dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed. She flopped backwards and let out a huff at the impact before wiggling slightly in the fresh comforter to get a better position on the bed. When a grin came across her face, Sydney couldn't help but smile along with her.

"Is this good enough for you?" Sydney teased and Charlie lifted her head up a tiny bit, looking at her alpha and narrowing her eyes in on her.

"I mean, I guess I could get used to it." Charlie teased right back and Sydney shook her head at the girl in amusement. "Nah, it's pretty awesome actually, better than I was expecting."

"Good." Sydney chuckled, her hand moving up and down Bruin's back in gentle motions. "The twins will be set up in the basement and maybe tomorrow I can test out my back yard."

"Test out the backyard?" Charlie cocked her head to the side, clearly confused as to what Sydney meant by 'test out'.

"Yeah, see I wanted to try something that would protect us from unwanted visitors so I asked Jordan if he could get the contractor's to put a line of mountain ash under the grass in the back yard."

"Like an invisible fence?"

"Basically. There should be an opening with a gate across it so that we can get in and out." Sydney explained. "Keeps creepers out and Bruin in, it's a win-win situation."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're pretty much a genius."

Sydney simply smiled at the girl, letting Charlie think whatever she wanted about her. A few seconds passed before either one of them moved and when Sydney turned to walk out of the room, Charlie jumped up and followed her, the two of them going down the stairs side by side before stepping out onto the front porch.

The twins were already out there next to their bikes, freeing what little stuff they had brought with them before rain came down and soaked their bikes. Sydney let Charlie lead the way to the car and when she popped the trunk open, the two of them loaded up with as much stuff as they could, Aidan and Ethan coming over to help, and together, the four of them, Bruin still in Sydney's hold, headed back inside to make themselves at home.

The twins branched off and headed down into the basement, which Sydney had not yet seen but she'd get there eventually, leaving the girls on the main floor together. Charlie set her stuff on the floor and waved at Sydney, signaling for her to hand Bruin over. The alpha did so with ease and then took one more look around the room before looking out the open front door.

"You want food right?" Sydney questioned, bringing Charlie's focus back to the task at hand. At the faint sound of thunder, Sydney furrowed her eyebrows together and stole a look out of the nearby window. "I'll head out now, hopefully I'll make it back before the worst of the storm comes."

"Sounds good, be careful, will you?"

"Always. If you need anything, you just call me."

"Do you think there are flashlights or candles anywhere, you know, in case the power goes out?" Charlie threw out before Sydney could leave.

"Um, I'm not sure, I'll see if there's anything like that at Peter's place, if not, I'll see what the store has."

Charlie nodded her head in understanding, ran her hand over Bruin's head in a soothing gesture and gave a little wave in Sydney's direction as she took off, stepping out onto the porch and pulling the door shut behind her.

It was nice being back in Beacon Hills but as soon as they had entered into the town, Sydney had felt an undeniable shiver run down her spine. She hadn't said anything to the pack yet, she didn't know if she was going to. There were a few things that it could've been, maybe being back in such close proximity to Peter was the reason for her heebie jeebies, maybe it was nothing to worry about at all. Maybe there was something ominous about the town now.

Sydney wasn't entirely sure what was going on, or what she had missed, all she knew was that something felt off and as soon as she had a better idea of what that was, then she'd bring it up to her pack. For now, she'd deal with it on her own.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Opening the door to Peter's apartment, Sydney sucked in a breath and felt her entire body relaxing a little bit at the smell of him lingering in the air. No matter how long she was away from the place, it still smelled like Peter, which meant that no matter where he really was, being in his home was enough to calm her down and remind her that he was her mate, he was the man who had claimed her and in turn, let her claim him too. She loved him, she wanted to be with him and if she could just get to him, then she'd be able to see him one more time and make sure that he was okay, maybe he'd be up for release in the near future, maybe he was already working on figuring a way out of there. No matter what, she didn't really want to leave Beacon Hills without him by her side.

Pushing Peter to the back of her mind, she focused her attention back on the task at hand. She headed into the bedroom and pulled open the dresser drawers, immediately looking at his clothes that were tucked away there. Inside she located a bunch of his shirts that she was going to take and without thinking too much about it, she grabbed over half of them and threw them on the bed. Once the bed was sufficiently covered, she shut the drawer and began looking for a bag, or a suitcase, something that she could load up with his clothes so that she wouldn't have to juggle them in her arms as she carried them to the car.

Lucking out, she found an old overnight bag tucked away under the bed. Once it was full, she headed out into the kitchen and began going through the cupboards, salvaging anything that she could in regards to food, candles or flashlights. After the cupboards had been gone through, she opened the fridge and did the same, which was quickly followed by the freezer. When she was comfortable with her plastic bags full of food items, as well as a few candles and a flashlight, she carried them over and set them at the front door, fully prepared to head out any time.

All she had to do now was grab the bag of clothes and get out of there, but she wanted a few more minutes to herself before that happened, she wanted a chance to be alone with her thoughts. Her body felt almost at peace inside the apartment and when she shut her eyes and focused, she could almost feel his presence nearby. A smile broke out on her face and she inhaled a deep breath, silently vowing that she'd get Peter back, no matter what it took.

When her phone vibrated in her pocket, she let out a groan and dug it out, looking to the screen and letting out a chuckle. Charlie had requested that Sydney pick up the stuff to make sushi via a text message and Sydney wasn't about to turn her down. Sending a quick text back to her, she debated her next move and without hesitating for another second, she dialed Jordan Parrish's number and waited for him to pick up.

It rang, rang again, and continued to ring until the voicemail finally kicked in. She wasn't dumb, she figured he was busy seeing as he had left her a message saying he had gone in to work, but that didn't make her feel any better. He hadn't answered and with the severity of the weather, she wasn't sure she was comfortable with that.

Shaking her head, she ended the call without leaving a message and dialed the sheriff's number next, ready to inform him that she was back in town and that he was welcome to come and see Bruin any time he wanted. Any time she had sent Stiles a new picture of the baby, he had always sent back a reply mentioning how much his dad adored the little girl. Sydney couldn't help but wonder if he'd be more excited to meet Bruin or if she was more excited _for_ him to meet Bruin.

Lifting the phone up and holding it against her ear, she listened to it ringing, and ringing…and ringing. On the sixth ring he finally picked up and she knew just after the first word out of his mouth that something was bothering him.

"Sheriff here!" He barked and Sydney flinched at his tone.

"Uh, hey, it's just me, Syd." She tried to stay calm and hope that he was frustrated at something else and not at her calling him. He was the sheriff, she knew that, which also meant that he was constantly busy. Suddenly it occurred to her that maybe the man wouldn't have a lot of time to waste on meeting her sweet baby Bruin, and that thought alone saddened her to the core.

"Oh, Sydney, yeah, hi, how are you?" His voice was still laced with frustration but he was attempting to be a little more soothing towards her. Apparently it wasn't her that she was mad at. "Sorry for being so short, we've got a lot of stuff going on here because of the storm, the phone's been ringing off the hook and we're running low on staff."

"I get it, I'll make this quick then. I'm back."

"Like in Beacon Hills?"

"Yes in Beacon Hills. I've got my pack all set up at my old house, well my new old house, but anyways, we're planning on staying here in town for a little while, I was just calling to invite you over so that you can officially meet Bruin."

He let out a soft sigh, "I'd love that."

"Okay, so, then feel free to stop by any time."

"I'll try to get there in the next day or so, I would've loved to have come tonight but we're swamped here and I don't know where the hell Parrish is- anyways, I'll stop over soon and I'll make sure to have Stiles with me. He's been going on and on about meeting her."

"Are you sure it's not you that's been going on and on about her? I get it, so..." Sydney hesitated and glanced around the room, her eyes landing on the window nearby. The rain had started to pour down in the time that she had been in the apartment building and she knew how bad the storms could be in Beacon Hills. A perfect example was the night that the alphas had attacked the hospital, the weather had been so bad that everyone had been evacuated except, apparently, for Cora, who had managed to make it through the night even though she had been severely poisoned.

"I'll let you-"

"You said something about Parrish." She cut in, desperate to know about her friend, who hadn't answered his phone when she had called him minutes ago. She wouldn't have minded talking to him either, to set up a time when he'd swing by and get to meet Bruin too, although she wasn't entirely confident that he'd be as excited as the sheriff was, after all, Jordan still had no idea that she had even been pregnant. "He's not there then? I just called him before I called you and he didn't answer his phone, it went to voicemail."

"I sent him out on a noise complaint a while ago, haven't heard from him since." The sheriff explained in a low tone, and Sydney couldn't help but wonder if maybe this had something to do with the supernatural. He wouldn't have wanted any of the other deputies to know, if that was the case, which would have warranted his low tone.

"Um, is the place where the noise complaint came from anywhere near Peter's apartment, because that's where I am right now, I can swing by the address and check on him, if you want?" She wasn't sure what had compelled her to offer, maybe it was the idea of an adventure, maybe it was seeing Parrish in person, she didn't know, nor did she care. She had made the offer and if he accepted, then she couldn't take it back.

"It's…not too far from there. You sure you don't mind, like I said before, we're running low on staff here?"

"No I don't mind, I can handle a simple check in." She forced a smile onto her face and felt the goosebumps forming on her skin, a chill running through her body as a loud crack of thunder sounded out in the night sky. The building shook from the sound but she continued to look out the window, however, the rain, the sheer force of it pouring down from the sky, took away any chance of her being able to see more than two feet out of the glass. "I'm sure you're super busy there, no sense sending out a perfectly good deputy to make a simple check in."

"You're not wrong." He replied but she could hear the desperation in his voice. "I'll text you the address in a couple minutes, when I get a chance to get back to my desk. Call me if _anything_ doesn't feel right."

"Of course sheriff." She nodded her head. "Take care of yourself tonight."

"Alright, expect that text in a few minutes."

"Sure thing." She waited a few more seconds and when he hung up on his end of the line, she lowered her phone away from her ear and headed back to grab the bag of clothes.

There was no sense sticking around wasting time, hopefully she had the address before she got back to the car, and then she could head over to wherever Jordan was supposed to be. The sooner she checked in on him, the sooner she'd be able to get to the store.

Hauling all of the bags up off the floor, Sydney managed to balance then in her grasp. With one last look around the apartment, she walked over to the front door, pulled it open and stepped out into the hallway, leaving Peter's apartment behind with a sadness flooding through her veins that she wasn't entirely comfortable with. She struggled to get the keys out of her pocket but after a few seconds of trying, she freed them and made quick work of locking up the apartment, sealing up Peter's scent for another day.

With everything still in her grasp, she went bounding down the stairs, pausing when she hit the landing and locked her eyes on the wall of mail boxes. Quickly searching his out and finding it, she then looked for the mail key on her ring. This time, she had to set down a few of the bags, but once she had the mail, more flyers and junk mail, out of the box, she tucked them into the front pocket on the overnight bag and grabbed hold of the rest of her stuff.

In the parking lot, with the rain pouring down on her, she quickly opened the driver's side door and without hesitation, shoved her haul into the car and over, onto the passenger seat before diving inside and whipping the door shut behind her, leaving her inside the car, where the rain couldn't get her. When her phone vibrated inside the car, she lifted it up and looked at the screen, studying the address that the sheriff had texted her. It wasn't too far away and she figured she'd be able to make it there in just a few minutes, if the roads weren't too bad of course. Storms tended to do damage to whatever they could and the roads were prime targets for fallen trees, poles or even car accidents.

With one last look at the side of the apartment building, Sydney turned the car on, jacked up the heat to warm her freezing skin, which had been a result of the pelting rain, and put the car into gear.

It all went according to plan, she'd be home within the hour.

Then again, when did anything really go according to plan, especially when it came to Beacon Hills?

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _And there we have it, we're officially back into season 5! How do you think the pack will react to being in Beacon Hills, especially when the Dread Doctors start showing up, or Theo for that matter?_**

 ** _Thank you guys so much for continuing to read and enjoy!_**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: His reaction, oh boy, well, how do you think he'll react? thank you so much for the review!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: How did you like the first official chapter of season 5?_**

 ** _Bookshelfheart: He might make an appearance, I don't want to give too much away. thank you so much for taking the time to review and I hope you keep reading and enjoying!_**

 ** _Guest: Thank you so much! Did you love this chapter as well?_**


	15. Chapter 15

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 15:**_

The scent of blood was rancid and she could smell it the second she stepped foot onto the front porch of the house that the sheriff had sent her too. Sydney had been very cautious when she pulled up and she had looked around before walking up to the door, but nothing seemed to catch her eye, which meant that if there were any threats, they'd be inside the house, waiting for her.

The front door was wide open when she got to it and without hesitating, she forced her claws out, preparing to defend herself if the time came for her to do so. There was something weird about the house, something that made her body feel slightly more abnormal than she would've liked, and for that reason, and that reason alone, she wasn't going to play this stupid.

If there was something inside the house, she wanted to be ready for it, or at least as ready as she could be considering she had no idea what the hell was lurking around the next corner.

Lifting her hand up, she waved it in front of her nose, trying to force the putrid smell of blood out of her nostrils. She stealthily moved forward, putting her foot on the floor inside the house, and that's when she felt it, a chill so cold that she was sure she was in some sort of danger.

Her blood ran cold, her body was frozen to the bone and when she took another step inside, she felt her breathing pick up as though the air were heavier inside. Sucking in a breath before she got too far away from the front door, she prayed that she'd be okay, that Jordan was okay.

Turning into what she could only assume was the main hallway, her eyes landed on a fallen chandelier but Sydney was undeterred. If Jordan was here, she was going to find him and she was going to do it without ending up dead, at least that was the goal.

The aroma of blood got stronger as she pushed forward and when she reached another hallway, and another open door, she held her breath and focused her ears in, trying to listen for any sort of sound that would suggest she was in trouble. The house was eerie, so eerie that it would rival that of any haunted house in any scary movie that she would have ever seen.

Moving to stand in the open doorway, Sydney looked down into a dark stairwell and if it wasn't for the stench getting stronger with each inhale she took, she might've considered bypassing the basement altogether, but that wasn't what was going to happen. She knew that there was something down there and by her best guess, it was most likely Jordan Parrish, the one and only missing deputy.

"Hello?" She called out softly and prayed that she hadn't just blown the element of surprise.

Step by agonizing step, she made her way down into the dark basement of the house and when she finally hit solid ground, as opposed to the rickety wooden stairs, she let out a small sigh of relief, but her fear was far from gone.

Sydney pressed her back against the concrete block wall and raised her hands out in front of her. When the smell of burning flesh infiltrated her nostrils, she fought off the urge to gag and instead, let her alpha red eyes come out. Suddenly it was much easier to see what was going on and at the sight of the fallen and bleeding deputy, she pushed herself off the wall and surged forward.

Her knees collided hard with the floor as she came to a skid beside him and her hand immediately rose up, her claws retracting and her fingertips gently grazing over the ripped and torn flesh.

"Oh my god." She gasped and leaned forward, her hand running up his chest and coming to rest on the side of his neck. She felt for a pulse and when the faint but steady thrumming beat against her fingers, she let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Hey, Jordan?"

His head lulled to the side and Sydney leaned down further, putting her face directly in front of his. His eyes fluttered open and she spotted the familiar orange glow of his irises, but just as quickly as he had resumed consciousness, he was out again, the weight of his head surprising her as it drooped downwards. She lifted her other hand up and ran her fingers along his jaw, but then thought better and made a move to grab her cell phone out of her pocket.

She looked at Jordan as she fumbled with the device and when it was righted in her hand, she tore her gaze away from him and dialed the sheriff's number as fast as her fingers would move.

Squishing the phone between her ear and shoulder, she freed up her second hand to hold onto his head, forcing it into an upright position and drawing out his pain as best as she could.

"Sheriff here-"

"It's Syd, oh god, something's happened, something bad!" She cut him off, her voice was nearly pleading with him.

"Where are you?"

"At that house, I found Parrish, I found him but he's not looking so good and I don't know if the _thing_ that did this to him isn't still here. What do I do?"

"Uh, don't move, don't move him either, I'm on my way."

She twisted her hips and dropped her butt down to sit on the floor next to him, her hands falling away from his head in the process. She grabbed onto his wrist instead and clung to him, drawing out as much pain as she could with the hopes that she'd be able to help him enough to keep him alive.

"Hey Jordan?" She murmured and snuggled up closer to him, forcing herself under his arm. "Can you hear me?"

All she received in response was a low, pain filled groan, but hey, that was better than nothing, at least that meant he was still alive, even if it was just barely.

Sydney sucked in a breath and continued to draw out his pain, her head resting against his shoulder as she did so. He felt cold against her, which wasn't a good sign, but what else was she supposed to do?

"You don't know this but uh, you need to stay with me, you need to stay alive so that you can meet Bruin." Sydney's voice was soft and soothing but Jordan didn't respond, at least not with his words.

His hand turned over on his leg and his fingers weakly grabbed hold of hers. She felt him trying to give her a reassuring squeeze but there was no strength in his grip.

Sydney curled up against him further and continued to try and draw out his pain. When his breathes became haggard and raspy, she shut her eyes and focused all of her energy on keeping him alive.

When she opened her eyes, she looked across the room and studied the wall in her line of sight. At the same time she spotted a small gouge, with liquid running out of it, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and every bit of exposed flesh rose up from the goosebumps that were forming on her skin.

"Jordan." She murmured and tried to keep the panic at bay.

No wonder she wasn't sure that the smell of blood belonged to Jordan, there was more than just his blood in the basement, but did that mean that whoever the other smell of blood belonged was still in the house with them? And if that was the case, where was this other, injured, person?

His fingers moved against her hand and she let him hold onto her, but at the same time, she tried to squeeze her other hand behind him. If she could just get him up and away from the wall, then maybe she could get them both out of there, screw what the sheriff had said, she didn't want to wait around for something to attack her like it had done to Jordan.

"No more." He grumbled and she felt his body twist slightly in her direction, his head rolling against the top of hers as his body relaxed against the wall.

"Jordan, I have to get you out of here."

"No…"

"Jordan, come on, we have to move."

"…glowing blue…blue eyes…"

He continued to fade in and out and Sydney focused on each and every pain filled word. He was trying to tell her something, something important, and maybe if she could get him to tell her more then she could figure out what the hell had attacked him.

"Glowing blue eyes, the thing that attacked you had glowing blue eyes?" She asked, more for confirmation than anything. If he wasn't fully alert then he was going to need her to work with him.

"…male…big…"

"A big man?"

"…claws…blue claws…"

"Jordan, come on, please?" She begged him and she shifted her arm against his back, making another attempt to get her arm around him so she could hoist him to his feet.

"…big claws…blue…"

"Jordan." She whimpered and freed her arm from around him, moving away from him and kneeling next to his thighs. She gently set her palms on his hips and felt for any major damage there, if his legs were okay, then maybe she could get him to walk, or at the very least, hobble with her support. "Is he still here?"

"S-Scott."

"Scott? It was Scott?"

"No…"

"He was looking for Scott?" She asked calmly and ran her hands up his sides, feeling out his body for any other injuries, aside from the obvious clawing of his chest. "He went after Scott?"

Instead of an answer though, all Jordan gave her was a moan that nearly broke her heart. He was losing it, fading fast, and she wasn't sure what to do at that moment. The sheriff had said he was on his way but that had been minutes ago and she knew that he'd have a difficult time making it to the house with the weather the way it was behaving.

She sucked in a breath, clamped down on his shoulders and pulled out as much pain as she could. She fought off the urge to growl as his pain settled in her chest, hurting her more than she had been expecting. Part of her wondered how he had survived this long, another part of her didn't want to think about it.

"You've got to stay with me." She called out to him and moved her one hand up, her fingers ghosting along his jaw. "Stay with me!"

"L-Lydia…"

Sydney furrowed her eyebrows together and shook her head, but she knew it was no use, he wasn't looking at her, he was barely breathing. She wouldn't have put it past him if he was hallucinating; anyone in as much pain as he was in was surely delirious.

"Parrish!" The sheriff's voice echoed in the darkened basement and Sydney felt her entire body relaxing from the sheer relief of hearing the man's footsteps on the stairs. "Sydney?"

"Down here!" She called back and scrambled to her feet. Once she was standing up, Jordan's eyes fluttered open and he glanced up at her, an awe filled look in his eye. She crouched back down and stared into his eyes.

"Parrish!" The sheriff yelled out for him and both Sydney and Jordan turned their attention to the rickety wooden stairs. She flinched at the sight of the bright white light from his flashlight and Jordan seemed to be trying to move.

The sheriff hit the bottom of the stairs and rushed forward, Jordan's head lulling backwards and his eyes falling shut. She leaned forward and slipped her arms around his middle, gently urging him forward. The sheriff dropped down into a squat next to them and looked him over, Sydney watching him as he too looked over his deputy for more injuries.

"It's just the chest." Sydney stated and found that her voice was shaky. She was scared, she wasn't going to deny it. She didn't want Jordan Parrish to die on her, not when he hadn't even met Bruin yet. "Just the shredded skin."

"Can you lift him?"

"Uh yeah, yeah I can." She stammered and gripped him firmly around the waist. She shot a look in the sheriff's direction and he immediately stood up, watching her as she followed his lead, only she lifted Jordan up with her, settling him against her so that he didn't just fall right back over.

"Let's get him up stairs, I'll take him to the hospital." The sheriff instructed and took up residence on Parrish's other side, helping Sydney to stabilize him before the two of them hauled the fallen deputy towards the stairs.

It had been quite a struggle, he was more awkward than heavy, but after a few minutes of Sydney and the sheriff working silently alongside one another, they had managed to get him up onto the main floor of the house. The sheriff wordlessly pointed towards the front door and Sydney bowed her head in agreement.

After a few more minutes of lugging the unconscious Jordan through the eerie house, they had gotten him out the front door and now they were standing next to the back door of the cruiser.

The sheriff pulled the door open and Sydney, as gently as she could, guided Jordan inside. Once he was lying haphazardly across the backseat, she backed away from the car and let the sheriff shut the door.

"I have to get back to Bruin, keep me posted on his status?" Sydney spoke first and the sheriff gave her a nod. "If you need more help later, I can always send the twins."

"Copy that."

"Be careful and call me the minute he wakes up."

"I'm on it. You be careful too, I don't want to wind up finding you in a similar situation, got it?"

"I got it." Sydney forced a smile at him and stole one last look at the unconscious deputy in the back seat. Without another word between her and the sheriff, she took off for her own car, praying that she could get the groceries she had gone out for and make it back home before the rest of her pack began to worry.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie made a deal with herself, if Sydney was back in the house within the next ten minutes, then she'd relax, if she wasn't, then Charlie was going to go talk to the twins and politely ask that they go find her.

While she normally wasn't affected by thunderstorms, the one raging outside had her a little anxious for her alpha's well-being. Maybe Sydney had thought ahead and had holed up in Peter's apartment until the weather died down, maybe her alpha was out driving around in the pouring rain, maybe her alpha was lying dead in a ditch-

No she wasn't going to think like that. If Sydney was hurt, she'd feel it, wouldn't she? That was how packs worked, at least that's how packs worked according to Sydney, but Charlie wasn't sure if this was something that was expected of Sydney. Had the woman been a loose cannon before she had arrived in Colorado? Was she known to go AWOL on occasion?

"Hey Charlie, you look like you're gears a spinning a million miles an hour." Ethan remarked and he came around the couch, dropping down to sit next to her. She turned to face him and he reached a hand out, gripping her hand in a comforting gesture.

"I'm just worried."

"About Syd?" Ethan cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, she's been gone like two and a half hours."

"She'll be fine." Ethan said with a smile. "I'm sure she got caught up at Peter's. It's been months since she's actually seen him, I can imagine that being in his apartment would be somewhat comforting."

"When we were here six months ago, she went into the bedroom to change and I found her a little while later out cold on the bed." Charlie smiled fondly at the memory. Yes, Ethan had a point, being in the apartment had had a relaxing effect on Sydney.

"See, she's fine. If we're being honest here, I'm more concerned about Bruin." Ethan pointed out. "She's never been through a storm this bad and you can tell she's pretty nervous."

"But she's not screaming." Charlie remarked and the two of them listened carefully for the sounds of distress coming from the baby. Aidan had taken possession of her shortly after Sydney had left claiming that he was going to be getting her a bottle of formula to eat. Charlie had let him take her without a fight and busied herself getting her things ready for her first day of school the next morning.

"She's a pretty good baby if you ask me." Ethan teased and Charlie nodded her agreement. She scooted over on the couch and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I feel bad that she doesn't know her father." Charlie murmured and let out a sigh, the sounds of thunder and pouring rain were almost soothing to her now that Ethan was by her side.

"Well Peter wasn't always a good guy, in fact, I don't think he ever _was_ a good guy."

"Syd picked him though."

"She did, but they work, the two of them together, it just makes sense, you know?"

"I think so. I kind of wish I had met him, before he got himself admitted. She really loves him though and as her beta, I'm going to support her with whatever she chooses, even if she chooses to be with a homicidal nut job."

"Talking about Peter again?" Aidan asked as he came up the stairs, walking into the middle of the living room and lowering himself down to the floor, where he sat cross legged and holding Bruin in his arms. Charlie motioned for him to hand over the baby and he did so without argument, the baby immediately curling up against Charlie's chest.

"Yup." Charlie popped the 'p' and smirked at Aidan.

"I've been thinking about it a lot lately and honestly, I don't know that he's any worse than Deucalion, or Kali-"

"Or Ennis." Ethan threw in. "He really just tried to kill Scott, Deucalion did the same thing."

"Case in point." Aidan grinned. "Peter Hale may be a nut job but he's not the worst choice for Syd."

"Plus, it's not like we get to choose who we fall in love with." Ethan stated and the three of them fell silent.

Charlie held on to Bruin tightly and tried to comfort the nervous baby. Ethan let Charlie lean against him and Aidan remained on the floor, watching his twin and pack mate just sitting on the couch. No one said a word to each other, not even when the sound of a car engine was heard outside.

They all remained in their positions and when Sydney finally waltzed through the door, blood staining her hands and bags hanging off her wrists, Aidan was the first one to his feet. Charlie carefully stood up and readjusted Bruin against her chest, then she wandered over towards Sydney, who had set the bags down and shut the door behind her.

Ethan was the last one to congregate at the front door, the three betas staring at the soaking wet Sydney, waiting for her to explain what had taken her so long and why her hands were stained with blood.

"I had to make a pit stop and check on someone." Sydney answered the unasked question. "Parrish wasn't answering his phone and I was in the neighbourhood, so I did the sheriff a favour."

"Why do you have blood on your hands?" Charlie asked and motioned to the reddened skin of Sydney's fingers.

"Jordan was attacked in the basement of the house he was sent out to, he had deep scratches in his chest and from the few words that I could get out of him, whatever attacked him was big with glowing blue eyes and big claws that may or may not have also been blue."

"What?"

"I don't know, I told the sheriff to let me know if he found anything else out but at this point in time, that's all I got. Does any of that ring a bell with you guys?" Sydney asked and looked around at each and every one of them.

"No, not at all." Charlie shook her head and Bruin made a disconcerting noise. Sydney sucked in a breath, lifted her hands up into the air and surged forward, heading for the kitchen.

She turned the faucet on and let the water run into the sink as she lathered up her hands before washing off the blood. Once her hands were back to their normal colour, she reached for a towel residing on the counter, dried her hands off and then proceeded to peel off her soaking wet leather jacket.

Charlie was right in front of her in no time and before anyone could say another word, Sydney took hold of her baby girl and cradled her in her arms, her one hand running up and down her back soothingly.

"There's some more stuff in the trunk but I figured we could wait until the rain at least slows down. Everything all good here?" Sydney questioned and stepped back over to where her betas stood, waiting for further instruction.

"Yeah, aside from Bruin being a little nervous, we're all good." Aidan pointed out.

"Aw, does my baby girl not like storms?" Sydney cooed and pressed a gentle kiss against Bruin's head. "Poor sweet Bruin."

Charlie couldn't help but smile at the sight and she watched as Sydney whisked her baby away, the two of them disappearing up the stairs. Charlie assumed Sydney was going to go change out of her wet clothes and maybe make an attempt to get Bruin to go to sleep. When she looked over at the bags, she noticed that Ethan was already looking through them, Aidan standing behind him watching.

"Why don't we just put this stuff away?" Charlie suggested and pushed forward, nabbing a couple of the bags off the floor and taking them into the kitchen. The twins followed her lead and headed into the kitchen with bags of their own.

They pulled out groceries and put them in the fridge, freezer and cupboards, depending on what the item was. They pulled out some candles, a flashlight and a new package of batteries and set them on the counter next to the sink. As the bags were emptied one by one, the three betas worked silently, putting everything in its rightful place and once there were no more things to put away, they all stopped moving and just looked at each other.

"What else do you think she left in the trunk?" Ethan asked in a low tone, a look of wonder on his face.

"Probably Peter's stuff." Charlie answered with a scoff. "It's what she _really_ went out for."

"I'll race you." Aidan challenged and Charlie let out a bark of laughter before shaking her head. "What?"

"Yeah right, I'm not going outside in _that_ rain. I'll probably melt." She joked and Ethan rolled his eyes at her. "But you can be my guest."

"Fine, then I'll just go by myself." Aidan huffed and turned his back to them as he made his way towards the door.

Charlie and Ethan watched carefully as he pulled the door open and stepped out onto the porch, which was covered and dry. Aidan paused at the edge of the stairs and looked up into the sky, watching as the rain fell in buckets from the dark storm clouds above.

His shoulders fell and he shook his head in defeat, then he turned back around and walked right back into the house, shutting the door behind him. Leaning against the door, he locked his eyes on his brother and Charlie and growled at them.

"It's raining a little bit out there huh?" Charlie said sarcastically and Ethan grinned next to her.

"Whatever." Aidan scoffed and threw his hands up into the air. "The rest of the stuff can wait."

"Yeah it can." Charlie muttered as Aidan pushed himself off the door and disappeared into the living room.

Ethan turned his head to look at Charlie and within seconds, the two of them were cracking up. Leave it to Aidan to entertain them without even intending to.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Right from the start we have Syd getting right into the middle of the chaos, how did you guys like her scene with Parrish?_**

 ** _I can't thank you guys enough for continuing to read this story and leave such positive feedback!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: I often times find myself wishing that Sydney was cannon but I'm sure most writers feel that way haha. thank you so much for such kinds words!_**

 ** _Jenga-Tree: Thank you a million times over for leaving me such a wonderful review! it made me smile so big and I appreciate your feedback! I hope that you continue to enjoy the story!_**


	16. Chapter 16

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 16:**_

Sydney's plan for breakfast the next day had been to get up, make sure Charlie was awake, and then head down into the kitchen to actually cook it. She had carried Bruin down the stairs early with her and at the sight of Ethan making his way around the kitchen, the sound of sizzling and the smell of bacon hitting her hard, she had reserved herself to sitting at the table nearby and holding tightly onto Bruin.

Ethan flashed her a smile as he peeled strips of raw bacon out of the package and realigned them so that they weren't stuck to one another. She watched as he used a pair of tongs to pull the already cooked meat out of the pan and set it on a plate lined with paper towels on the counter beside the stove. Without a word between them, Ethan wandered over to the kitchen table, with the plate, and set it down near Sydney, who smiled her thanks at him.

Balancing Bruin in one of her arms, she reached out and nabbed a piece of bacon just as Ethan was loading up the pan with the next batch. The two of them, Sydney wearing her pajamas and Ethan fully dressed, remained silent, at least until Charlie came bounding down the stairs, her hair still damp from her shower.

"How do I look?" Charlie asked when she hit the bottom and stopped, giving the two of them a twirl and planting her hands on her hips expectantly.

"Uh, you look fine." Sydney shrugged and took in the sight of her in her denim shorts with the frayed edges and her simple blue t-shirt. "I don't know how your dad would feel about those shorts-"

"Advantage of him being a few states over." Charlie cut her off with a smile and waltzed into the kitchen, letting out a huff as she collapsed into the chair next to Sydney. "Yes, I knew I smelled bacon!"

"Yeah and how did you want your eggs?" Ethan asked from behind the stove. Sydney shook her head at her youngest beta in amusement and turned her attention to Bruin, who was clearly starting to become fussy, most likely hungry for breakfast, just like the rest of them.

"Scrambled, is that an option?" Charlie tossed back casually and grabbed a piece of bacon. "Are you taking toast orders too?"

"Sure am and scrambled it is." Ethan nodded his head in understanding and glanced over towards the two females sitting at the table.

"Okay, cool. Two pieces of toast, not burnt but definitely toasted, you get me?"

"I think I got it." Ethan chuckled at her and turned his attention back to the pan with the cooking bacon in it.

Sydney threw a smile at Charlie and pushed her chair back, ready to head over to the counter and prepare a bottle for the baby in her arms. When Aidan came bursting out of the basement door, everything and everyone, except for Ethan and his cooking, stopped dead. He took one look at Bruin, grinned, and then continued on his way into the kitchen.

"No worries alpha of mine, I got Bruin's bottle coming right up." Aidan seemed to be in good spirits that particular morning, something that Sydney had begun growing accustomed too since Bruin had been welcomed into the world.

Chalk it up to him absolutely adoring Bruin, or the fact that with Bruin around Sydney wasn't as hard on her betas as she should've been, she wasn't sure but it was certainly nice to have Aidan who was willing to do almost anything for the baby at the drop of a hat. Sydney was starting to dread the day that they had to get back to training, but she'd cross that bridge when the time came.

"I still can't get over the fact that you," Charlie pointed to Sydney, and then over to Aidan, "and him kissed. I mean, I've heard the stories surrounding Peter Hale and the fact that Aidan's still alive after that it just…it floors me!"

"I'm a very persuasive person." Sydney shrugged but the familiar smirk was ever present on her lips. "Distraction is always the best technique."

"And probably why you ended up with Bruin in the first place." Charlie shot back with a roll of her eyes. Sydney glanced down at her squirming baby and sucked in a breath.

"I kind of like her." Sydney mumbled and shifted her hold on her, lifting her up and hugging her gently against her chest. "She's kind of sweet."

"Well that's good." Charlie remarked sarcastically and even the twins let out a laugh at the exchange between them. "I guess that means we're keeping her."

Aidan wandered over with a freshly made bottle in his hand and promptly handed it to Sydney, who took it and placed it down for Bruin. He then proceeded to sit down in the chair on her other side and watch in awe as the baby sucked back the formula faster than anything he'd ever seen.

"We're totally keeping her." Sydney cooed and locked her eyes onto Bruin's, the same vibrant brown eyes that she owned as well. "It's a good thing she's cute though."

"I'd be inclined to use the term gorgeous." Charlie pointed out and without expecting it, Ethan placed a plate full of scrambled eggs and toast down in front of her. She turned her head towards him and smiled her thanks before grabbing a fork from the pile in the middle of the table and stabbing at her eggs. "Do we have ketchup?"

"Sure, I'll grab it for you, and what do you want for your toast?"

"Butter for starters." Charlie teased and Ethan scurried away, leaving Charlie to turn her attention back to Sydney and Bruin. "I do have to give Peter credit for one thing, from the pictures I've seen of him, he's got good genes, at least you picked a pretty man."

"Pretty?" Aidan cocked his head to the side. "A pretty man?"

"Don't let Peter hear you say that." Sydney snickered and Charlie shook her head at her. "But I mean, if you did, I'm sure I could just distract him."

"And wind up with baby number two, yeah, I'll take my chances with the lunatic." Charlie snorted and Sydney found herself laughing right along with her.

A comfortable silence fell over them all as Ethan continued to work, bringing over the ketchup, butter and a jar of peanut butter before moving back over to the stove and making a plate of scrambled eggs and toast for his brother. Aidan accepted it with a smile and dug right in. It was a few minutes later that Ethan came back to the table with two more plates in his hand, one for him and one for Sydney, which he set down in front of her.

The four of them had still been silent, even as footsteps were heard outside the front door, and then on the porch, two sets to be exact. A smile broke out on Sydney's face and at the very same second that a knock sounded out, she yelled at her guests to 'come on in'.

The door opened and Sydney's face lit up at the sight of Stiles and his father stepping over the threshold and walking into the house, right into the kitchen where Sydney and her pack were all congregated.

Sydney stood up and readjusted Bruin in her hold, moving the bottle away from her mouth and setting it on the table before walking over to meet the two Stilinskis halfway to the table. As soon as the sheriff's eyes were on the baby in her arms, they lit up like a Christmas tree and she immediately handed Bruin over to the man.

"My god, she's beautiful." The sheriff whispered and he cradled Bruin in his arms, his eyes not leaving the baby's for a second. "She really is."

Sydney felt her cheeks heating up from his words so instead of making it awkward for herself, she looked towards Stiles, who was taking a good look at her betas, and cleared her throat, promptly getting his attention.

"You want breakfast? Help yourself." Sydney waved her hand towards the table and Stiles nodded his understanding but he didn't make a move to go to the table, instead, he closed the distance between him and her and took her into a hug, Sydney reciprocating.

"I'm _so_ glad you're back." Stiles murmured to her and when they pulled away, he gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder and moved to the table, dropping down and taking a seat in her vacant chair.

She watched him for a few seconds longer as he grabbed a piece of bacon and began eating it, munching away as he and Charlie shared a smile. Sydney then turned her attention back to the sheriff, who was looking down at Bruin with a calm look on his face, something that she had rarely seen in all the time of knowing him. Apparently there was something about a baby that really relaxed the man.

"How're you handling her?" The sheriff asked in a low tone and glanced up a Sydney for a second before looking right back down to Bruin.

"It's definitely an adjustment but I've got a good support system." She smiled at the thought of her pack being right there with her. "It's good to be home though."

"Even if there's a homicidal giant werewolf with glowing blue claws wandering around?" The sheriff teased and Sydney moved towards him, leaning against his shoulder as she looked down at Bruin with him.

"Don't forget to tell her about Theo!" Stiles piped up but went right back to munching more bacon.

"Theo?" Sydney tossed a sideways glance at the sheriff and the older man let out a sigh, clearly frustrated with Stiles' enthusiasm regarding this particular name.

"Theo Raeken." The sheriff said. "He was a kid that was in the forth grade with Scott and Stiles, he made his grand reappearance last night at the high school. Stiles doesn't seem to think that he's here for the reasons he says he is-"

"He wants to join Scott's pack." Stiles pointed out. "Just magically shows up and asks to be a part of something that's already just fine without him, can't blame me here, can you?"

"Well maybe something happened to his alpha." Charlie remarked and caught the look that Sydney gave her. Yes, Charlie had once been packless and she had taken her in, but they had put her through some sort of initiation, Sydney _had_ gone into her memories after all. It wasn't like she had welcomed Charlie with open arms right from the get go. "Maybe his pack was completely obliterated."

"Talking from experience?" Stiles shot her a look and she raised her arms in surrender.

"All I'm saying is that maybe you should look into him a little more before you make a snap judgement. I'm not saying that you should just let him in, but maybe you should find some sort of proof before you completely blow him off." Charlie explained, receiving a pat on the back from Ethan. "Sometimes people will surprise you."

"I like her." The sheriff teased and took a few seconds to study Charlie, who was beaming at him with a proud smile on her face.

"I like her too." Sydney added in a soft tone. "I think I'm going to keep her around."

"She's very smart." The sheriff commented.

"Yeah, pretty strong too." Sydney nodded and Charlie shied away from her gaze, embarrassed by all of the praise. She made a move to stand up and when her feet were on the floor, she stepped around the table and made her way into the kitchen, going right for the fridge where she grabbed a bottle of water to drink.

"Maybe Theo could end up being a lot like Charlie." Sydney stated and Stiles leveled her with a glare. "Or maybe he's a psychopath who's just here to cause chaos."

"Exactly!" Stiles threw his hands into the air. "I'm telling you this kid is-"

"Stiles." His dad cut him off and narrowed his eyes in on him. "I think you should come over here and hold this little darling."

"What are you- the baby? You want me to hold the baby?" Stiles sputtered but reluctantly moved to his feet, walking over towards his dad and Sydney. When he was within reach, the sheriff handed him the baby and Stiles took her, awkwardly trying to adjust his hold on Bruin so that she didn't fall from his grasp. "Huh, this isn't so bad."

"Bruin's not picky with much, I mean, she slept in her playpen last night and-"

"What, why? Do you not have a bed for her?" Stiles broke in but his eyes never left the girl in his hold, who was smiling up at him and lifting her hand up to reach out, her palm gently hitting his chest.

"We _just_ got in last night and Jordan was in charge of furniture, he doesn't know about her so that means that she didn't get to sleep in a crib last night, but that's on my list of things to do today."

"I might have Stiles' old crib in the basement." The sheriff piped up. "I don't have to be at the station for another hour, I can run home and see if I can't dig it up for you."

"No, no you don't have to do that." Sydney shook her head and Stiles lifted his head, glancing between his father and Sydney.

"It's not like we're using it." Stiles pointed out.

"Exactly, plus it's just taking up space, I'm sure it's still there and it should be in decent condition. Think of it as a loan, when she grows out of it, maybe you can give it to Stiles."

"I won't be needing-"

"One day." The sheriff spoke up. "Mark my words."

Stiles merely shook his head at his father and gingerly readjusted his hold on Bruin, who let out an excited coo at him. Clearly the little girl knew who to play up to and Stiles was just eating up the attention.

"In the far off future of course." Sydney added with a chuckle. "Babies are terrifying but they're totally worth it. I wouldn't trade her for anything."

Stiles nodded his understanding and sucked in a breath, making an attempt to hand the girl back to her mother. Sydney stepped forward and took Bruin out of Stiles' arms, cradling her against her chest and running her hand up and down her back. Stiles took a look around the room and locked his eyes on Charlie, who was standing near the fridge with the half empty water bottle in her hand.

"You got your jeep?" Charlie asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I followed my dad here."

"Going to give me a ride to school then or what?" Charlie questioned with a smirk.

Stiles gazed down at his feet, let out a small sigh and then looked back up at her, "get in."

Charlie took off out of the kitchen and disappeared upstairs. Everyone was silent in the kitchen and when the young beta came bounding back down the stairs, her backpack slung over one shoulder, it was obvious as to where she had gone.

Rushing over to Sydney, Charlie gave the girl a half assed hug and made a beeline for the door, pausing inside the house and looking around, her eyes landing on Ethan, who let out a sigh.

"I guess that's my cue." He stood up reluctantly and moseyed on over to Sydney, pressing a sweet little kiss on the top of Bruin's head.

"Cue for what?" Stiles stared at the alpha female and Sydney grinned in response.

"Her dad would kill me if anything happened to her so Ethan here is going to be her shadow for a little while until we're all comfortable with her going off on her own. Don't worry, he'll be watching her from just far enough away that no one will notice, right Ethan?" Sydney explained but looked at Ethan, who was just a couple feet behind Charlie.

"Right." He nodded and Charlie reached her hand back, giving his arm a reassuring squeeze. "Maybe I can find some things out on my own too. I'll keep you posted."

"Good, good. Have a good first day of school!" Sydney called out to them, Charlie smiling back at her alpha.

Stiles shook his head at the entire situation but followed Charlie and Ethan out the door, pausing only to wave at his dad. Once the three of them were out of sight, Sydney nodded her head towards the table and led the sheriff over to Charlie's recently vacated seat. The two of them dropped down and sat, the sheriff grabbing one of the few remaining pieces of bacon in the process.

Sydney followed his lead and took a bite of the pan fried meat, then she looked over at the sheriff, unsure as to what came next. She had so many unanswered questions, and by the tired look on his face, he had some of his own, but where did they start?

"Did you find out anything about last night and the thing that attacked Parrish?" Sydney asked casually, trying to keep her tone light, even though she was desperate to find out anything that she could. The sooner she knew what to look in to, the sooner she could get Aidan on the case and maybe they could figure out what sort of werewolf-like creature had glowing blue claws.

"I wrote down what Parrish said." The sheriff stated and dug his hand into his sheriff's jacket, pulling out a pint sized notepad and flipping to a certain page.

"So this guy was different, he wasn't like us?" Aidan piped up and looked between Sydney and the sheriff, Bruin letting out a loud yawn from Sydney's grasp.

"Well, technically, at least according to Parrish, he _was_ a werewolf, but he was different." The sheriff stopped flipping and read over his notes. He cleared his throat and began to speak, "His claws were twice the size of Scott's, Parrish called them talons, and then he went on to say that it felt like the guy was drawing the life out of him _through_ the claws."

"Really?" Sydney furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. "He told me the guy was huge and he had glowing blue eyes, and then I think he said that his claws were blue too."

The sheriff just stared at her, seemingly waiting for her to go on. Surely she had to know something about what had happened, she had to know what this guy was, didn't she? When Sydney said nothing in response, the sheriff let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head, tucking his note pad back into his pocket.

"This guy was after Scott." The sheriff stated.

"Why?"

"Well that's another thing Parrish said, he said that he thought that this guy could actually steal a true alpha's power."

Sydney looked over at Aidan and watched as the gears started turning in his head. She wasn't expecting him to know what this thing was but she was expecting him to help her figure it out. If Ethan was busy following Charlie around, and Charlie was busy with school, that meant that the two of them were going to have to look into _trying_ to figure out what the hell had attacked Deputy Jordan Parrish the night before.

"So you're saying that this guy was after Scott to steal his power? Now, don't get me wrong, I get the allure of being an alpha, but what would make anyone want to go after a true alpha, especially one who took on not only Deucalion, but Peter too, and walked away with all of his pieces in tact?" Sydney asked the ultimate question and even Aidan was looking at her in awe, wondering the same thing apparently because he gave her an encouraging nod, signifying that he agreed with her.

"Not to mention all the attempts at killing him that came from the dead pool." The sheriff added. "The _failed_ attempts."

"Scott seems like a hard person to kill, lucky for us." Sydney remarked with a small smile. "There's easier ways to get to an alpha though, which means that this guy specifically wanted Scott, for whatever reason."

"And that's what doesn't sit well with me." The sheriff sighed. She couldn't even begin to imagine how frustrating it would be for him to know about the supernatural but not be able to really do much. He was the sheriff, which meant that he had to look out for the safety of Beacon Hills but also the safety of his deputies, which included Jordan Parrish.

Sydney had a hard enough time dealing with the supernatural on her own and she was _part_ of the supernatural. She knew that there were creatures out there, monsters with great power, and that freaked _her_ out, she couldn't even begin to imagine how totally overwhelmed the sheriff was.

"It's like Scott's on a dead pool list of his very own." Aidan mumbled and Sydney's body tensed at his words.

"Someone wants Scott's powers." Sydney whispered. "Someone wants Scott to not be an alpha."

"Either that or they want him dead." The sheriff added, his tone low to match Sydney's. "Whatever the reason is, I'm not sure this is something I can handle on my own. If there's someone out there who's a werewolf but not like any werewolf we've ever seen, what does that mean for us?"

"It means we better be damn careful." Aidan countered. "Something's not right and until we know what it is-"

"Last night, when I got to that house, I got a serious case of the willies, actually, as soon as we got into Beacon, I felt a shiver, like, it's hard to explain but something didn't feel right, you know?"

"I do actually, I think I felt it too." Aidan lowered his gaze down. "Something's not right here."

"You don't have to tell me that. I keep my deputy on desk and traffic duty for six months and then send him out on a noise complaint where he gets attacked and nearly killed, it's hard to deny that." The sheriff said. "You guys promise me that you'll be careful too, god forbid anything happen to you, or that precious baby."

"Got it." Sydney glanced down at Bruin, who's eyes were starting to flutter shut. She smiled at her baby girl and felt the sheriff's hand on her shoulder. "I'll try not to do anything reckless."

"That's all I ask." The sheriff bowed his head and then brought his eyes back up. "Now, I'll just run home and see if I can't find that crib I offered you and drop it off on my way into the station. If you hear anything, or find anything out, you let me know?"

"You'll be the first person I call." Sydney smiled. "And thank you again for the crib."

"Don't thank me yet, I still have to make sure I've got it and then dig it out." He joked but made his way to his feet. Sydney took the last piece of bacon off the plate and offered it to him. He considered taking it for a few seconds before his hand shot out and he took it, waving it in the air as he walked around the table.

Sydney rose to her feet too and followed him to the door, pulling it open for him and following him outside onto the porch. The sheriff continued on his way down the steps and headed towards his cruise parked in the driveway behind her car.

With one last wave in his direction as he climbed into the vehicle, she simply watched as he started up his cruiser and carefully backed out of her driveway.

Aidan came up behind her and carefully nudged her shoulder with his knuckles, bringing her attention to him.

"Something doesn't feel right about being here." Aidan murmured and Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth.

"Well right now there's not much we can do." She pointed out. "I think it might be a good idea to have an escape plan though, in case things get too dangerous here, especially with Bruin."

Aidan moved his hand around Sydney and ran his palm over the sleeping girl's head. She twitched under his touch but didn't wake up and Sydney just watched her, taking the sight of her in.

She sucked in a breath, tried to get a feel for the scents in the air and then backtracked into the house, Aidan right by her side.

When she had arrived in Beacon Hills, she had felt a shiver run down her spine and after hearing that Aidan had a similar feeling, she knew that it wasn't just her.

At that thought, she didn't know whether to be relieved, or terrified.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Ah yes, a little Stiles/Sheriff/Sydney reunion. Don't you guys just love them together?_**

 ** _My most sincerest thank yous go out to all of those who are reading this! I can't thank you guys enough!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Parrish is pretty awesome on his own lol. Thanks so much for the continued support!_**

 ** _Guest: Phew, I hope you find this chapter even more interesting. Thank you for leaving me such motivating words!_**

 ** _Jenga-Tree: Ha, here was some Stiles just for you :) Thank you a billion times over!_**


	17. Chapter 17

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 17:**_

When Stiles had pulled into the parking lot for Beacon Hills High School, Charlie fought off the urge to gasp. Okay, well this was definitely _different_ than the school she would've been going to in Colorado. This school was huge, the architecture was elaborate, hell if she hadn't seen the sign stating that it was, in fact, a high school, she would have thought it was more like a museum.

"You coming or you going to stare at the school all day?" Stiles asked and she shook her head, bringing herself back to reality. This wasn't a museum, this was a school, _her_ school and this where she'd hopefully be finishing out senior year.

Charlie gave him a nod and climbed out of the passenger seat. Stiles followed her lead and met her at the front of the jeep, the two of them standing side by side on the walkway that led up to what Charlie could only call a courtyard.

"Can I ask you something?" Charlie looked over at him and he slowly brought his attention towards her. "You and Syd are pretty close right, but like, how did that all start?"

Stiles sucked in a breath at her question and seemed to consider his answer. She had to know that their relationship was complicated at best, but was there a defining moment when Stiles would've looked at Sydney and thought 'hey, this girl, I can trust her', and that's what she wanted to know. If she was going to be thrown into senior year with Stiles as her ally, then she was going to make sure to learn as much as she could about everything _and_ everyone, which included her very own alpha.

"I guess, maybe, when she told me that she'd look out for my dad." Stiles answered honestly and Charlie could tell by the calm beating of his heart, that he was telling the truth.

"Why'd she do that though?" Charlie pushed and hoped that she could get more information without managing to set Stiles off.

"It was when the alpha pack was in town and the Darach was taking people as sacrifices, she showed up at Deaton's one day and just said that she'd do whatever she could to make sure my dad was- was uh protected. I knew she was with Peter but there was just, just something about the look on her face when she said it."

"Yeah, she's good like that." Charlie bowed her head.

"I found out later that it probably had a lot to do with her own parents being murdered." Stiles offered up with a casual shrug. "Either way, I think that's where it all really started."

"She mentioned to me one time that she had a theory about you, that it was possible you might be her emissary." Charlie stated and Stiles opened his mouth and blew out a breath, but she continued on. "Syd has never really said anything bad about you to me, she adores you and if something happened to you, she'd be pretty broken up. You and your dad mean a lot to her."

Stiles nodded his head and crossed his arms over his chest. He held them there for all of three seconds before dropping them back down to his sides and turning his back to Charlie, facing a set of stairs as he shook his head.

"Yeah, well, she means a lot to us too." Stiles murmured and took off once he laid his eyes on a girl, a girl their age who was waving at him. She was standing about halfway up the stairs and when Stiles made it to her, she fell in step next to him, but Stiles paused and waited for Charlie to catch up. "New friend Charlie, this is Malia, my girlfriend, Malia, this is Charlie."

Charlie stuck her hand out but the girl just stared at her, almost as though she was studying her, only there was a tell-tale snarly look on her face. When Malia's nose moved the slightest bit, Charlie knew what she was doing and she let the girl sniff her out. If this is what it took, then this is what Charlie would go through.

"She smells like…"

"Syd? Does she smell like Syd, oh I bet she smells like Syd." Stiles finished off for Malia and Charlie smiled at her, hoping that that meant Malia would at the very least stop snarling at her.

"How'd you know?" Malia's expression immediately turned into a confused look and she stared at Stiles instead.

"Syd's new beta." Stiles gave Charlie a dismissive wave. "Old news. I have new news though, good new news. So before I picked up Charlie here, I was at the station with my dad and I managed to convince him to run a background check on Theo."

"You can do that?" Charlie questioned and gave an approving nod of her head. Yes, Stiles was already proving to be very useful and when he jerked his head to the side, Charlie raised her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, tell us what you found."

"A speeding ticket." Stiles nodded defiantly.

Without much of a warning, Stiles and Malia took off up the rest of the stairs and Charlie found herself torn between following them, and finding out more about this mysterious Theo, and heading for the front door of the school, which she could still see from where she stood. When they had first approached the stairs, she realized that this high school was significantly larger than the one she had attended in Colorado, which meant that it would've been way easier to get lost. Maybe sticking with Stiles was her best bet.

"So you ran a background check, and all you found was a speeding ticket?" Malia asked and Charlie fought off the urge to take off and leave Stiles behind yet again. She was too excited for school but then again, if she trailed along with him and Malia, she'd maybe get to meet more of his friends, and that sounded like a pretty good deal to her.

She hadn't wanted to be the third wheel though, but she didn't know anyone else yet and she knew that Sydney would've been disappointed if she just abandoned Stiles at the first chance she got. No, she was going to stick with him, at least until class started, hell maybe she'd even pick up some _more_ valuable information. The possibilities were endless when it came to the sheriff's son.

"Speeding ticket signed by Theo's dad eight years ago." Stiles shot back, as though that were the defining piece to the puzzle. Charlie rolled her eyes at him and wondered what had happened to Stiles in the last few years to make him so untrusting of other people. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered how much about Stiles she didn't know, what hadn't Sydney told her about the guy?

"Which means what?" Malia again with the asking. Charlie was actually starting to appreciate her, it saved Charlie from voicing her own confusion.

"Who speeds?" Stiles threw his hands out to the side, stopped walking and paused for dramatic effect, either that or he was actually expecting an answer. "People trying to get away from something."

"Well, how many tickets do you have?"

"None." Stiles stated, standing his ground. Charlie rolled her eyes at him and glanced away, taking in the sight of the other students around them.

"How many would you have if your dad didn't get you out of them?" Malia pressed, causing Charlie to turn her attention right back towards them.

"Seventeen." Stiles answered after a quick hesitation.

"Look, maybe Theo _is_ bad news, maybe he's not, but don't you think running a background check is a little excessive?" Charlie piped up, finally, and received a look of irritation in response. "Hear me out, and I'm not saying you're wrong, but he's supernatural, he's a werewolf-"

"Or _something_." Stiles broke in and Charlie sucked in a breath, trying to keep calm.

"Okay, or something, anyways, my point is, running a background check isn't necessarily going to get you the answers you're looking for, whether or not they're even there." Charlie explained. "Being supernatural doesn't automatically make you a criminal."

"That's-that's a point in your favour." Stiles waved his hand in her direction but kept his eyes on Malia. " _She_ has a point, a _good_ point."

"Thank you." Charlie did a little bit of a bow in return but shook her head at Stiles. She kind of liked his spunk, it was obvious why him and Sydney got along so well and maybe she could end up being a good friend of his too, that is, if she passed his background check.

"I don't know, Stiles. I mean, I see why you're worried: he's really hot, he's got like great hair, perfect body…you should definitely feel threatened." Malia remarked, holding her hands out in front of her as if to hammer her point home.

"Thank you, because I do." He paused for a second and nodded his head furiously. "Now more than ever."

"You want me to torture him?"

At Malia's offer, Charlie let out a snort, a loud snort, a snort that caught not only Stiles' attention but a few people nearby, who gave her funny looks in response. She lifted her hand up and waved them off but the damage was done, she knew she'd be lucky if people didn't already think she was a bit of a freak.

Stiles cocked an eye brow at her and when Charlie shrugged at him, he carried on speaking with Malia, "no, I don't want you to torture him."

"Are you sure, I can take him."

"I have a plan." Stiles leaned in and lowered his voice but Charlie didn't need to move to hear him any better, her ears were already tuned in to his tone. "All right? There are steps to doing this right."

"What steps?"

"Step one, run a background check." Charlie tossed out and dropped her eyes to the ground, taking in the sight of her sneakers. "Am I right?"

"What? No, no, we get the story, verify the facts, you find the piece that doesn't fit and- and catch him in the act. That's how you do it."

At the conclusion of Stiles' sentence, Charlie noticed that he was looking back down the stairs, the same stairs that they had all climbed up not long ago. Getting out of a vehicle was a decent looking boy who then proceeded to throw his hand into the air and wave at them. Charlie didn't make a move but she could tell by the look on Stiles' face that this was precisely who they had been talking about, this was _Theo_.

"He's not _that_ hot." Charlie mumbled and she swore that Stiles looked appreciative that she was standing right there.

"Why are you so suspicious of this guy?" Malia asked and Stiles let out a small, barely audible grunt.

"Because I remember Theo from fourth grade, okay? That's not Theo." Stiles said firmly and for the first time that morning, Charlie found herself wondering if Stiles was right to be suspicious.

If he had instincts like a werewolf, surely he'd realize that something was off, the kid was strange to her already and she had only laid her eyes on him for a few seconds. Stiles had been the one to know Theo back in forth grade, if he claimed that something was off, then who was Charlie to disagree, after all, she had heard Sydney talking about what had happened to her in the strange basement the night before, if something weird had happened during the same night that this _Theo_ showed back up looking for Scott, well that had to be more than a coincidence, didn't it?

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie had managed to run into Stiles in the hallway, which is the only way she would've been able to find him again. Stiles was rather evasive when he wanted to be, she had found that out first hand, but she also knew that he wasn't intentionally trying to avoid her, no, he simply had more important things on his mind, case in point, the kid who called himself Theo.

She didn't have to say anything to him, not a single word, and Stiles knew that she was going to be tagging along with him. Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she smiled at the text message on the screen. Ignoring it for the time being, she simply followed Stiles as he headed down the hall in a fit of panic. Whatever he was doing, whoever he was looking for, was important.

When he entered the library, Charlie shook her head but continued to follow him, only stopping when he did and when he stopped, he looked down at table with three people at it, one of who she recognized as Malia.

"Stiles-"

"This is Charlie, she's Syd's beta, Charlie this is Scott," Stiles pointed at the guy sitting at the head of the table, "and that's Kira." Stiles proceeded to point to the sweet looking girl sitting next to Scott.

"Hi." Charlie lifted her hand up and gave them a wave, when they all waved back at her, she immediately turned her attention to the text that she had received from Isaac telling her 'good luck on your first day at Beacon High'.

She shot him a quick response informing him of the people she had met already and once the text was sent, she dropped her phone down and let it dangle from her hand at her side.

Stiles then proceeded to plant his hands down on the table, sandwiching two pieces of paper between each of his palms and the surface of the wooden slab, Charlie was barely paying attention, too wrapped up in the thought of her text message conversation with Isaac, who was enjoying a lovely day in France with any luck. She wasn't really enjoying this little game of trail Stiles but she knew that Sydney would've wanted her to stick by him and at the very least, _try_ and keep him out of trouble, at least the kind of trouble that would end up with him being hurt. Plus the guy was entertaining, that was a point in his favour.

"So you found something?" Scott asked from his seat at the end of the long table, Kira was next to him on the side and Malia was next to her. Stiles was bent over the table, trying to keep his voice low but it was no use, the poor guy was too flustered, too into his own little investigation.

"Another signature." Stiles answered quickly and Charlie moved around him to lean against the edge of the table so that she could get a look at what was going on too. "This is Theo's dad's signature on a speeding ticket from eight years ago and this is his dad's signature on a transfer form to Beacon Hills High School from just a few days ago."

"How did you get his transfer form?" Kira asked and Charlie hid her smile. She had already asked Stiles how he had gotten the information and the more that he explained it to her, the more she was starting to think that Stiles would be her best ally, at least while she was at school.

"Did you break into the Administration Office?" Scott added, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"No, I did not break into the Administration Office." Stiles glanced around the table and Charlie gave him an encouraging nudge on the arm. "Okay, I might have broken into the Administration Office- can we just focus on the signatures, please? They're different."

Everyone sitting at the table was clearly just humouring Stiles by this point but Charlie had been very interested when he had first shown her the signatures. They were a little bit different, but were they different enough to warrant a huge suspicion or were they different because of an eight year gap and eight years meant that a lot of things could change, including signatures.

"They're sort of different." Malia drawled slowly.

"They're completely different, come on look." Stiles pointed to a loopy letter on the page, "the garlands don't match, the undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off. And look, look at this: perfect example of the Criminal Tremor."

"So now, Theo is Theo, but his parents aren't his parents?" Kira looked a little bit lost and Charlie couldn't exactly blame her. If she was sitting on the other side of the table, she might've been a little concerned with Stiles' behaviour too but Sydney had taught her, in the months that they had spent together training, that Stiles was smart, he was _very_ smart and if her alpha believed in him, well then so did Charlie.

"Someone's not someone. And when I figure out who that someone really is, someone's in big trouble." Stiles countered and Charlie bit down on her tongue to keep from laughing. How could this guy get any more confusing?

"But no one's done anything wrong." Scott pointed out.

"Yet. If Theo's parents are both psychotic killers then obviously, we should not trust him, right?" Stiles fired back.

"My parents are Peter and the Desert Wolf." Malia tossed out and Charlie couldn't help but wonder how much about Sydney this girl knew, if it was anything much at all. Technically Malia had a half-sister in Bruin but Charlie was very aware Sydney hadn't told anyone other than her pack mates, her dad, Stiles and his dad and a few more people in Colorado about Bruin's existence. Did Malia need to know about Bruin?

Even if she did, it wasn't Charlie's place to say anything, it was Sydney's and Charlie knew that her alpha was a good, strong woman who knew how to handle situations.

"Okay," Stiles brought his hand up and massaged his forehead, "it's fine, you know what? I'll figure it out myself, all right. I don't need you or you or you. I don't need anyone."

"You've got me." Charlie said with a sigh and took off as soon as Stiles brushed past her.

Chalk it up to the fact that she didn't want to sit with the three in the library, especially Malia, but she was really starting to like Stiles and his desperation for figuring out the truth.

"Have you considered talking to Syd more about this guy?" Charlie asked once they were a good twenty feet away from the table, leaving the others behind to think about what had just happened.

"Not exactly but I've got you and you're maybe…probably the best chance I've got. We just need to find Liam."

The two of them raced through the halls in search of this Liam character, another of Stiles' friends that Charlie hadn't met. Stiles seemed to know where he was going though because a few minutes later, he slowed down and backtracked a few steps before walking right up to an adorable blonde kid who appeared to be a little younger than her and Stiles.

Stiles ran up to him and gave him a rough slap on the back, catching his attention with ease. When Liam looked at Stiles, he forced a smile onto his face and that's when Charlie stepped up behind him.

"Right, uh, Liam, this is Charlie, she's one of Syd's betas, Charlie, this is Liam, he's one of Scott's, well, he's the only- anyways, that's not important, you know what is important, this!"

Stiles lifted up the two pieces of paper and handed them to Liam, who looked at them for a few seconds before looking up at Stiles, a confused expression on his face.

"The signatures are different." Charlie pointed out and Liam stole a look at her, studying her for a brief second.

"Are you sure?" Liam asked and looked back at the two pieces of paper.

"I am, yes, very sure." Stiles moved his fingers along the page and pointed to the signatures. "See here, this is a perfect example of the Criminal Tremor. Now, are you with us or not?"

Liam nodded his head furiously and fell in stride behind Stiles. Charlie stole one last look at her phone and let out a sigh at the response to her text that Isaac had sent. If she continued to follow Stiles around, she was never going to get a chance to talk to him but for now, that was a small price to pay. Stiles was a person that Sydney spoke highly of and Charlie knew that that meant he was a good person. If helping him track down Theo, who may or may not _be_ Theo, then that's what she'd do.

The two of them followed Stiles right outside to the parking lot and over to his jeep, where they all promptly climbed in, Liam in the front seat, Charlie in the back. Once the doors were shut, Stiles turned the jeep on and Charlie couldn't help but feel a little bit excited for their adventure together. So far it was turning out to be a pretty adventurous first day of high school and if she was one of the only people who was game for tagging along with Stiles, well, that was okay with her, it just meant that she'd have way more information to tell Sydney about what was potentially going on in Beacon Hills.

"What's a Criminal Tremor?" Liam asked, holding his head high. Charlie settled into the back seat of the jeep and set her backpack on the floor next to her. Liam then lifted up one of the pieces of paper that had Theo's dad's signature on it but Stiles ripped it from his grasp before he even knew what was happening.

"It doesn't matter." Stiles argued back and put his jeep into gear. "All that matters is that we're going to catch him."

"And I'll be right there with you, every step of the way." Charlie smiled and Stiles glanced back at her, over his shoulder. She swore that he smiled back at her but before she could be sure, the jeep started moving and that's when Charlie looked at her phone, her smile widening at the text.

'If I had known you'd be in California, I might've stayed.'

Oh yes, Isaac Lahey was too sweet and if there was a way she could get him back to America, then she was going to work her butt off to make it happen.

For now, she'd focus her attention on Stiles and his illustrious hunt for the truth.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

It had gotten quiet once everyone had left the house, maybe a little too quiet but Sydney wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to head up to her room and maybe get some of her things unpacked, which also included some of Peter's things that she had nabbed from his apartment the night before.

She knew that if he ever managed to get free and head home that he'd be surprised at what he found there, or maybe 'not found' was a better term. She had taken most of his shirts and any of his food that was edible, which didn't leave much for him but she didn't care. If he ever got out of Eichen House, she was hoping she'd be the first person he called.

Sydney, clutching Bruin against her chest, wandered around on the main floor, watching as Aidan continued to dry the dishes from breakfast and put them away. She wanted to talk to him, she wanted to get his opinion on what was going on in Beacon Hills, but most importantly, she wanted him to rub her back while she laid down. Yes, her withdrawal was still in full swing and now that she was back in Beacon Hills, she knew it was only going to get worse before it got better.

"Hey there's a cruiser outside!" Aidan's voice sounded out from in front of the oven, where he was bent down putting the pans back into the drawer.

She furrowed her eyebrows at his remark, the sheriff had already dropped the crib off, which was sitting in her room waiting to be put completely together, so who was stopping by the house? Had the sheriff forgotten something?

She moved towards the front door and peered outside, spotting the cruiser for herself and then spotting the man that it belonged too. Jordan Parrish, who was wearing his deputy's uniform, was heading up the front walkway and mounting the steps to the front porch. Sydney shook her head but couldn't help but smile at the sight of him, alive and well, a huge contrast to when she had seen him in the basement of the creepy house the night before.

Aidan came up behind her and brushed past her, opening the door before he even had a chance to knock. Jordan looked up at her and smiled, and then his eyes traveled downwards, taking in the sight of her, and the baby in her arms.

"Babysitting?" He asked and tilted his head to the side. Sydney waved him in and Aidan headed outside, shutting the door behind him and giving the two of them a bit of privacy.

She led Jordan into the kitchen and lowered herself down into one of the chairs at the table, Jordan following her lead and taking a seat beside her.

"No, no she's mine. My baby, her name's Bruin." Sydney admitted, thankful for the opportunity to let him know about her daughter. "She's just a few weeks old-"

"Wait, so you were…already pregnant when you came here all those months ago? Or do werewolves-"

"I was already pregnant." She smiled and lifted Bruin up, handing her over towards Jordan, who took her nervously and held her. "I just didn't want to tell anyone if I didn't have to, especially considering I was still getting used to it myself."

Jordan stole a look at Sydney and then glanced down at the baby in his hold. Her eyes were just barely open and the poor little girl looked utterly exhausted, if it hadn't been for his drop in, he imagined she would've been napping.

"Who's her father?" Jordan asked and began gingerly rocking her back and forth in his hold. "Or do I even have to ask that?"

"Peter." She nodded and confirmed what Jordan already expected. "Unplanned."

"I could've guessed that too. So Bruin huh?"

"Yeah."

"I vaguely recall hearing you mention her last night but I had no idea who she really was. I just figured you inherited another beta, you know, like Charlie?"

She nodded her head in understanding and scooted her chair closer to his, running her hand over Bruin's head and smiling up at Jordan. He took in the sight of the baby in his hold and shook his head in what Sydney could only assume was amusement.

"Well technically she's my beta, I think. That's sort of how I figure it works but if I'm completely honest here, I really have no idea."

"No matter what, you're her mother." Jordan pointed out with a smirk. "She's really beautiful. Is she well behaved?"

Sydney scrunched her nose up at the question and considered how she wanted to answer him. On one hand Bruin was pretty good, she didn't cry all that much, especially since they had left Colorado, but then there were times when she was cranky to the point of driving Sydney nuts, which she figured was something normal people dealt with when it came to babies anyway. If she didn't have the twins, Charlie or even Steve around to help her, she knew it would've been a whole different story, but at the very moment, watching as Bruin drifted off in Jordan's hold, she knew exactly what to say.

"She's her mother's daughter, that's for sure." Sydney said with a laugh. "I hope she grows up to be just like me."

"Yeah? And not so much like Peter?" Jordan teased right back.

"Maybe she'll get his spunk." Sydney chuckled.

A silence fell over them and Sydney watched Jordan as he looked down at Bruin. He seemed calm with her and part of Sydney felt that way when Jordan was around too. Maybe there was more to their relationship than she originally believed; maybe his supernatural status was something that would be important to her later on. For now though, she'd keep him as a friend and try to get the twins to help her figure out what he could be.

"I just wanted to swing by and thank you, for last night." Jordan murmured and Sydney bowed her head in understanding. "I don't know what would've happened if you didn't show up but I'm really glad I didn't have to find out."

She smiled at him, "well it wasn't exactly how I pictured meeting up with you for the first time since being back but hey, I'll take it. You mean a lot to me."

"You mean a lot to me too. We're friends now, I hope that one day I can help you the way that you keep helping me, first pulling me out of that burning cruiser, then finding me in that basement…"

"You helped me rebuild my house, we can call it even." She grinned and Jordan shook his head at her. Sydney continued to watch him as he held Bruin, amazed at how calm both her baby and her friend seemed to be.

"Even so, if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to call me." Jordan offered.

"I won't." She said softly. "You're a pretty good friend."

He smiled at her but settled his gaze right back on Bruin as she watched him. If circumstances had been different, if she hadn't gone to Peter when she had nowhere else to go, maybe things would've happened between them, maybe her and Jordan could've been more than just friends. Sydney knew though that there was no going back and even if there was, she still loved Peter.

It didn't keep her mind from wandering though, after all, a girl could still dream.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Maybe this is a start to a wonderful friendship between Charlie and Stiles, thoughts?_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Sheriff is amazing, I love him looking out for all of his honourary Stilinskis!_**


	18. Chapter 18

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 18:**_

Charlie hadn't been expecting a three hour stake-out, she hadn't really been expecting much of anything but the three of them had been parked outside of Theo's house just down the block watching him through his bedroom window as he did nothing but play video games. She had been nearly ready to give up and call it a day, well, a night considering the sun had gone down, but just as she was about to pack it in, Theo had left his room and gotten into his truck.

Which is precisely why the three of them were now crouched down in the bushes near the entrance to the preserve. They watched as Theo got out of his vehicle and walked around to the back, where he opened the hatch, grabbed hold of something and took off in a walk into the chained off area of the preserve.

"I told you he was up to something." Stiles stated, his voice low.

"We just spent three hours watching this dude play video games in his bedroom, he better be out here covering up a mass murder." Liam countered and Charlie merely rolled her eyes. If this was what counted as an adventure in Beacon Hills, then maybe she had grossly overestimated the stories that Sydney had told her.

"Let's find out." Stiles stated and took off away from the bushes that he was using as concealment. Liam tagged along behind him and without waiting for her to be beckoned, Charlie moved away from the bushes too and followed the two boys closely.

It was a few minutes of silence later that anyone said anything. Stiles had actually fallen in _behind_ Liam, who was tracking Theo by scent, something that Charlie was doing too, if only to keep her skills sharp. Stiles surged forward and fell in step next to Liam.

"You still got his scent?" Stiles asked and when Charlie looked ahead of them, she noticed that Theo had disappeared. Huh, well it was a good thing that she could still smell him or else she would've been hugely concerned.

"Don't need it." Liam countered and pointed towards the ground. Charlie looked down too and fought off a chuckle at the sight of footprints in the mud, very clear footprints that even Stiles could track Theo by. Apparently this was exactly what Stiles had in mind because he took over the lead and surged forward but Charlie watched Liam as he slowed down and came to a full stop a good ten feet behind Stiles.

"What? What's wrong?" Stiles asked and stopped walking too.

Charlie moved to stand next to Liam and she gave him a reassuring pat on his back. Whatever was troubling the young man was probably nothing but then again, Charlie had been informed about all the strange creatures that had been in Beacon Hills before. Maybe Liam wasn't as used to the supernatural as she was.

"I forgot, I was supposed to meet Mason at the school gym." Liam confessed and Stiles walked over to him.

"Okay, why didn't you just tell him?" Stiles replied.

"Tell him that we're out in the middle of the forest chasing down Theo Raeken?" Charlie tossed out and rolled her eyes.

"Tell him what?" Liam looked over at Stiles for an answer.

"Anything." Stiles answered.

"I can't just tell him anything." Liam argued.

"Why not?" Stiles and Charlie both asked at the same time.

"Because I haven't- I haven't told him everything." Liam threw his hands into the air in frustration.

"Still?" Stiles questioned. "We said it was okay."

"Wait, everything as in, the 'werewolf' stuff?" Charlie piped up and looked between the two.

"Yes, the 'werewolf' stuff, and yeah, I know, but it's not that easy. It's a lot to accept." Liam explained.

"He watched my dad blow up a Berserker with a land mine, I think the groundwork's been pretty thoroughly laid for acceptance. Scott and I have been through this, okay? More than once, it's always been better when they know." Stiles explained and Charlie could tell that he was calmer now than he had been seconds ago.

Stiles turned away from Liam and started walking down the path again, following the footsteps in the mud. Charlie moved over and stood next to Liam, looking at him and studying him. She didn't understand what it was like to be a new beta, all she had ever known was the werewolf lifestyle and anyone that was important to her had always known what she was. Her friends in school had been mostly werewolves too, which only served to push her further and further away from understanding Liam's feelings at that very minute.

"It's hard keeping secrets like that from your best friend." Charlie added. "I can't imagine what you're going through but Mason sounds like a pretty cool guy."

Liam pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen, Charlie giving him a gentle nudge in the side as they took off after Stiles, Charlie following his tracks while Liam veered off to the side slightly.

"What if he freaks out? What if he doesn't want to talk to me? What if he tries to stab me with something silver? Or what if-"

Charlie looked over to where Liam should've been at the thudding noise but suddenly he wasn't there, he had simply disappeared. She spun around and tried to see if she could find him but he was nowhere in sight. It wasn't until Stiles turned around that she noticed the giant hole in the ground, which is precisely where Liam had disappeared to.

"What the hell are you doing?" Stiles asked, carefully approaching the edge of the hole. Charlie came up behind him and looked down at the poor beta, nearly laughing at the sight. Of all the things he could've done, he had managed to find the random giant hole in the middle of the forest.

"Wolf hole." Charlie mumbled and let out a little laugh.

"I-" Stiles turned away from the hole at the sound of footprints and he took a step forward. "Hurry up and stop screwing around."

Charlie kept her eyes on the wolf in the hole and she squatted down, offering him a hand. Liam flashed her an appreciative smile but dug his hand out of the mud at the bottom of his newfound trap. Charlie shook her head at him and rose up to her full height, brushing him off and running after Stiles.

"Liam!" She called out to him but took off in a jog, running down the same trail that Stiles had headed down.

When she approached the human teenager, he was leaning against a giant tree branch, which also doubled as cover. She ducked down next to him and watched the kid on the bridge, her body jerking as Liam collided with her, which was apparently his way of slowing down.

"There he is." Stiles pointed at Theo, as if she and Liam couldn't already see him standing against the railing. "Try and get his scent. Get anything?"

"Soap." Liam shot back. "It's nice. It smells good."

Charlie nodded her agreement but she was already studying Theo's form, taking in the sight of him, trying to figure out what Stiles was seeing wrong with this guy. She leaned forward and flickered her eyes, trying to gage how he was feeling as he stood on the bridge.

"Not his soap, his emotional state. Chemosignals, remember?" Stiles muttered.

"Oh, yeah. Okay." Liam fell silent and stared at him. "He's sad."

"He's sad?" Stiles sounded confused but Charlie was picking up on it too. This kid was sad, and as far as she could tell, he was genuine in his feelings. Whatever he was doing, it seemed to break his heart.

"Well, not just sad, it's more like grief." Liam corrected himself and Charlie took a step forward, poking her head out over the tree branch. This kid, this _Theo_ was an enigma to her and even though she knew that Stiles believed he wasn't who he claimed to be, that didn't mean she didn't want to know more about him. Whatever he was going through, whatever was making him feel this way, she wanted to know more about it.

"Grief?" Stiles echoed the word and that's when Charlie spotted it. Theo had an envelope in his hand and from that envelope, he pulled out a flower before releasing his hold on it and letting it fall into the water below. Stiles turned around and stepped away from the branch, "Oh, my God! - Go! We have to go."

"Why?" Charlie hissed.

"What?" Liam added.

"Go! Right now. Just go." Stiles shoved Liam forward and Charlie shook her head at the two of them before taking off after them.

No one said a word as they trekked back towards Stiles' jeep, trying to put as much distance between them and Theo as quickly as they could. Charlie kept glancing back, making sure that Theo hadn't noticed them following him.

"Stiles?" Charlie asked in a low tone. "What was that?"

"That's the bridge where they found his sister." Stiles explained quickly.

"What sister?"

"The one that got lost and died from exposure, he's leaving a flower for her." Stiles waved his hand in front of Liam and Charlie slowed her pace down.

"That doesn't sound evil." Liam pointed out.

"I know." Stiles mumbled.

He came to a stop and looked up, seeing the one and only Theo standing on the hill in front of them. Liam stopped next to Stiles and Charlie swiftly tucked herself behind the two of them, hoping to remain as unnoticed as possible. She didn't know Theo and she wasn't sure she wanted to, not yet at least, there were still too many unanswered questions surrounding him. If she could keep herself small, then maybe she could get out of the forest without him even hearing her name.

Theo leapt down and landed on the ground in front of them, his knees bending from the impact. He rose up to his full height and stared at the two boys and when Charlie peeked her head over Stiles shoulder, she swore he flashed her a smile.

"What are you guys doing?" Theo asked as he straightened up, his eyes never leaving them. He started to move closer to them and without provocation, Liam took a step forward and let out a growl, Charlie fighting off the urge to do the same.

"Uh oh." Stiles muttered, watching his two wolf friends take their stances.

"Whoa." Theo raised a hand in surrender. "Why do I get the feeling this kid's tougher than he looks?"

"Only when we let him off his leash." Stiles countered and gave Liam a pat on the shoulder.

"And _her_ , she looks pretty feisty."

Charlie leveled him with a glare and Stiles moved his hand backwards, giving her a swat on the side and letting her know that he had this.

"Stiles, we were in Little League together. Why are you so suspicious of me?" Theo asked.

Stiles hesitated and made a move to pull out the papers that he had been carrying around all day. Charlie knew what they were, she knew that he _had_ a point, but the idea of his werewolf criminal record not being the same as his human criminal record, well that still didn't sit right with her.

"Because of these." Stiles handed the papers over to Theo, who took them without a second thought. "One's a speeding ticket signed by your dad eight years ago, the other one's a signature on a transfer form to Beacon High, they're different."

"Yeah, they do look a little different." Theo remarked casually.

"No, they're totally different, signed by two different people." Stiles pointed out.

"Allegedly." Charlie mumbled and Liam stole a look at her but gave her a nod of approval. If they were going to be the only two willing to back Stiles up, they were going to have to stick it out, right to the end. Charlie was in it for the long haul, she wanted to know what Theo's deal was, even if it turned out to be nothing at all.

"So my dad's not my dad? Like he's an imposter?" Theo seemed more amused than anything.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Who do you think I am?" Theo asked.

"We don't know yet." Stiles said, shaking his head. Charlie ran her hand down his arm in an attempt to calm him, to remind him that he had two very capable werewolves with him. He wasn't going to get hurt, neither of them would let Theo harm him, and maybe if he knew that for sure, then he'd take it down a notch and have a civil conversation with Theo.

"Want me to give you a DNA sample or something?" Theo teased.

"No." Stiles mumbled. "I don't have anything from the fourth grade to match it to."

A blanket of silence fell over them all and Charlie watched as Theo dropped his head down and looked at the papers one more time. His expression had fallen from a grin to a saddened look within seconds. It seemed to her that he was having a hard time accepting that Stiles wasn't welcoming him back with open arms.

"You know, Stiles, I came back here for Scott but I also came back for you. Someone like you, someone who's willing to walk into the woods in the middle of the night to protect his friends. I don't have anyone like that, but Scott does, you all do. I know I'm in the right place, I'm meant to be here, I'm meant to be part of this pack." Theo's speech seemed genuine but Charlie could tell, simply by the emotions wafting off of Stiles, that he wasn't totally convinced.

Stiles didn't say another word to the kid and Theo seemed to understand that this was his cue. Seconds later, the guy they had been trailing took off and disappeared into the darkness. Charlie waited a few beats to see if Stiles was going to go after him but when he made no move to do so, she knew that this was it, this was the end of their adventure.

Liam gave Stiles a rough pat on the back and started heading for the jeep, Charlie hanging back for a few seconds to make sure that Stiles was holding up okay after their unexpected encounter.

"I still don't trust him." Stiles muttered and Charlie let out a sigh.

"Well if you don't trust him, then neither do I. If Syd taught me anything valuable, it's that you're good at what you do, whatever that may be." Charlie remarked and Stiles turned his attention towards her, studying her eyes as she took in the sight of his fallen face. "Let's get out of here, this place gives me the creeps."

Stiles shook his head at her and when she went to step around him, he gently took hold of her wrist, "you do know that you're a werewolf right?"

Charlie shrugged, "werewolves can still get the creeps."

She broke free of his grasp and took off after Liam, picking up her pace in an attempt to catch the younger boy. She tuned her ears in, listened for Stiles coming up behind them and then relaxed at the sound of his footsteps getting louder behind them.

When they approached the jeep, Charlie smiled at the sight of Scott leaning against his dirt bike. She couldn't help but think of the twins and their road worthy motorcycles, Scott's attempt at being a biker was almost adorable. Maybe Kira liked riding on the back of a dirt bike but Charlie liked riding on the back of a motorcycle, and she knew that Sydney did too.

"Find anything?" Scott asked.

"Nope." Stiles paused and then shook his head before he quickly made his way over to the jeep, his keys in his hands.

"I-I fell in a hole." Liam added with a smile and Charlie gently shoved him to the side, letting out a snicker at his confession.

She slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close to her, taking in the sight of him. Wherever Scott had found this kid, this adorable, sweet little kid, she wanted to know, she wanted to see if she could find one of her own to take home to Sydney and get to join their pack. Liam was innocent, and it was amusing how funny he was when he wasn't trying to be.

"You're a good kid."

"I'm only two years younger than you." He shot back but didn't make a move to get out of her hold.

"Unimportant, just do me a favour okay, don't ever change." Charlie instructed and without further hesitation, she let him go and sauntered over to the other side of the jeep, making her way inside and climbing into the back seat.

She watched on as Scott and Stiles conversed and when she was satisfied that they were distracted with each other, she pulled out her phone and shot a quick text to Ethan, asking him what his location was. When he texted back that he was trailing Theo on his bike, she shook her head and let out a contented sigh, relaxing into the seat.

It wasn't until Stiles made a move to start his jeep that she registered anything was wrong. The engine sputtered and refused to turn over but Charlie merely settled into her seat further and shut her eyes, thinking about all the fun adventures she'd be going on with Liam and Stiles in the future. If this was what Beacon Hills was going to be like for the rest of senior year, well Charlie was looking forward to it as well as the many more adventures to come.

"Son of a- Liam, just do me a favor, get in the car and turn the ignition when I say."

Charlie leaned forward and rested her arms on the back of the seat, her face a few inches away from the side of Liam's head. She tossed him a smile and Liam shoved the keys into the ignition, waiting for Stiles' go ahead. She listened carefully as the two of them said a few words to each other, and then Stiles called out 'try it'. Liam turned the key but the same sputtering noise sounded out.

She watched the two boys out the front window, following Stiles' movements as he tinkered with the engine.

"So, you're Scott's beta." She started and Liam gave her a nod. "He a good alpha?"

"Yes, I'd like to think so."

"Good, good. I'm glad to hear that. He seems like a nice guy."

"Yup. And you answer to Sydney?"

"I do."

"How's she as an alpha?"

"Amazing. I love being in her pack." Charlie answered and couldn't help but smile at the thought of Sydney and everything that she had done to help Charlie be a better wolf, _and_ a better human being.

She fell quiet and listened in to Stiles talking about giving people the benefit of the doubt. When she heard Peter's name come up, she cocked her head to the side and wondered what other people thought of the man that she had never met. Sydney loved him but she had never been one to deny that he was a little on the crazy side, the twins had supported her on that too, but what did Liam think about Peter, did Liam know the man at all?

Before she could get the words out to ask, Stiles called out for him to try turning the jeep on again. Liam turned the key and the sputtering noise echoed in the forest. They were doomed, weren't they? A few seconds later, Stiles demanded Liam give it another go and Charlie could hear the frustration in his tone. Stiles was mad, furious even, and she wondered if this was common for him.

"Why can't you trust anyone?" She heard Scott ask and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Before Stiles even replied, she knew that he had struck a nerve by the scent wafting off his body.

"Because you trust everyone!"

She didn't see it but she heard the impact on the jeep, felt it as the subtle vibration ran through the vehicle. Whatever Stiles had done had resulted in him being in pain, she could feel that easily and for the first time she had left school with him, she was scared of what was to come.

Charlie poked her head out the back of the jeep and tried to see them, she tried to watch them, listen to what they were saying but she was too concerned with Stiles and his pain. When Scott calmly took hold of Stiles' hand and drew out his pain, she found her body relaxing a little bit at his actions.

Liam turned the key in the ignition without instruction and Charlie felt relieved at the sound of the purring engine, the headlights illuminating the forest in front of the jeep. She settled into the seat and watched as Liam scooted over, letting Stiles take back the driver's side before setting her hand on his shoulder.

"You need to vent, come on, let's drop Liam off at the school and go talk to Syd, how's that sound?"

Stiles let out a breath and nodded his head in response. She could feel him relaxing even more as he situated himself on the seat and put the jeep in gear, not another word was shared between the occupants of the jeep as Stiles pulled away from the forest, leaving his frustrations behind.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

As soon as Charlie stepped into the house, with Stiles following along right behind her, she couldn't help but smile at the sight. While she had completely missed dinner, but had let Sydney know, her alpha had left her a plate sitting on the counter. She tuned her ears in and located Sydney upstairs, which was exactly where Aidan and Bruin were too.

"Did you want a plate?" Charlie offered Stiles and he stopped in his looking around to shake his head no. "Are you sure, you can have this one and I can grab more food when you leave, Syd made dinner so, it'll be really good."

"Uh, yeah, you know what, that sounds nice."

Charlie handed him the plate of homemade chicken fingers and fries and then opened the fridge behind her, waving for Stiles to pick his poison, or whatever he wanted to dip the chicken in. When he grabbed hold of a bottle of plum sauce, she nodded her head and took the lead as she headed for the stairs, Stiles tagging along behind her.

The two of them approached Sydney's bedroom and Charlie pushed the door open that was already slightly ajar before walking right in and flopping down on the end of the bed. Aidan was sitting in the pillows with Bruin in one arm and his other hand running through Sydney's hair, as she lay sideways on the bed, using his thigh as her pillow. Charlie ran her hand over Sydney's back and then proceeded to pat the patch of bed next to her, where Stiles immediately planted his butt.

"I see you gave Stiles your dinner." Sydney teased and Charlie rolled her eyes at her, knowing that there was plenty more where that came from, she had seen the chicken and fries in containers when she had opened the fridge.

"I just figured that everyone should get a taste of your fine cuisine, plus we had a rough night." Charlie explained and Sydney glanced between Stiles and her beta. "We trailed Theo into the woods and didn't really find anything incriminating."

"I still don't trust him." Stiles piped up and lifted up one of the chicken fingers, studying it for a few seconds before popping the cap off the plus sauce and squirting it right onto the end of the chicken. "There's something off about him."

"Well, you can use Charlie whenever you want, that is, if she wants to be at your disposal." Sydney pointed out and the girl nodded her head in agreement. Yes, Charlie wanted to be included in Stiles' adventures, she was looking for something fun to do and so far, Stiles hadn't disappointed.

"Thanks, it seems that her and Liam are the only ones who are willing to help me follow up on this kid." Stiles let out a frustrated sigh and then shoved the end of the chicken finger in his mouth, ripping off a huge mouthful and chewing like it was nobody's business.

"Ethan's still out there now, he was going to check up on Liam at the school the last I heard." Aidan finally spoke and Stiles looked at him, his eyes narrowed in on the one twin. "My brother's just trying to help and so am I, I just help in a different way."

Aidan tightened his grip on Bruin and readjusted his position on the bed. He was necessary to Sydney's pack, not only for his strength and skill but also because he genuinely cared about her and Bruin. He was a valuable asset, even though Sydney knew how Stiles' viewed him and Ethan both.

"You know I'm always going to be on your side too, right?" Sydney offered up and rolled onto her side. She slowly sat up and scooted down the bed to sit next to Stiles, running her palm down his arm in an act of comfort. "If there's anything you need me to do, I'm in, so long as Bruin's looked after."

Stiles nodded his head and swallowed, "I know, I just- I just wish Scott would understand too. There's something not right about Theo and Scott wants to trust him anyways."

"Scott's that type of person and he's brave in his own way, but you can't hold it against him if he's willing to give Theo a shot. That's why he has you, isn't it? Don't you remind him of the dangers of this sort of thing?" Sydney asked with a knowing smirk. "Scott just wants what's best for everyone and if that means trusting someone who claims to be someone he once knew, then maybe you're going to have to figure out a different way to find the truth."

"Like torture?" Charlie broke in and Sydney shook her head no. "Then like what?"

"I don't know but I _do_ know that Stiles here is quite brilliant, scarily so sometimes, and I have faith that whatever's going on, well, Stiles, you're going to figure it out." Sydney nodded her head. "I trust you."

Stiles seized his opportunity and squirted more plum sauce onto the chicken finger but before he could get the chicken into his mouth, Charlie nudged his arm and he glared at her instead.

"Let's head down to the kitchen, I'm starving don't you know." Charlie teased and gave him a shove forward, Stiles standing up and leading Charlie out of the bedroom.

He paused in the doorway though and glanced back at Sydney, who smiled at him in return.

"You know what you're doing, I know what you're doing, now all you have to do is get Scott to understand what you're doing." Sydney stated. "I'll be down in a few minutes, I just want to get Bruin settled in for the night."

Charlie and Stiles both nodded their heads in understanding. The two of them disappeared into the hallway and both of the wolves remaining in Sydney's room listened to their footsteps. When a third pair of footsteps got louder, Sydney let out a chuckle and waited for Ethan to show his face.

He crossed the threshold a few seconds later and immediately went for Bruin, taking him out of Aidan's hold and holding her against his chest.

"There's something you should know." Ethan whispered and closed in on Sydney, leaving very little distance between them. "I followed this Theo kid after Charlie left with Stiles-"

"Is he bad news?" Sydney cut in and narrowed her eyes in on him.

"Well, it's possible, I'm not sure, but I am sure that I saw him shift and he can go full wolf." Ethan explained with a look of fear _and_ excitement in his eyes. "This is big, right? I should tell-"

"I think we should leave it alone for now, we just keep tailing him when we can. I want to know more about this _Theo_ kid before we say a word, to _anyone_." Aidan countered and looked at Sydney, waiting for her to either object or agree with him. When she merely stared up at Ethan, a lost look on her face, he knew that she wasn't sure what to do.

Maybe she was thinking that what Stiles didn't know wouldn't hurt him, maybe she was thinking that Aidan had a point; if they could find out more about _Theo_ then maybe they could do something about him before Stiles had to.

"Um, you and Ethan then, you can take turns following him?" Sydney asked and the twins both nodded their heads yes. "And the other can keep being Charlie's shadow?"

"Yes, and you can stay here and worry about looking after Bruin." Aidan answered. "I know you want to be a part of this but that little girl needs you and this is our job. Whatever happens, we do it for the good of the pack and right now, that's Bruin."

Ethan gave a single nod of his head, apparently agreeing with his brother. Sydney stood up and took hold of Bruin, freeing her from Ethan's grip. Looking down at the baby in her arms, she knew that they had a point, she was more than an alpha, she was a mother and Bruin needed to come first.

She just hoped that nothing would hurt her pack, or the Stilinskis, in the process.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Charlie's starting to see what Sydney sees in Stiles, do you guys like the idea of Stiles and Charlie being good friends? Do you think Stiles is good for Sydney, or that Sydney is good for Stiles?_**


	19. Chapter 19

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 ** _Chapter 19:_**

 _The sound of silence was nice, too nice, but Sydney wasn't about to question it. Bruin had gone down without much of a fuss at all and now she found herself lying on the bed getting ready to fall asleep herself. She was perched in the pillows, looking over at the crib in the corner of the room with a smile on her face and that's when she heard the footsteps and smelled that familiar scent._

 _It wasn't either one of the twins, it wasn't Charlie, it wasn't anyone she would've been expecting, no, when the man appeared in her doorway, her heart stopped in her chest. When he moved forward, she surged to the end of the bed and moved to sit on her knees, lifting one hand up to cover her mouth in a pathetic attempt to not cry._

 _Peter looked just like she remembered, he_ _ **smelled**_ _exactly like she could recall but the fact that he was standing in her room, stepping closer and closer to her after being absent from her life for months, well that was something that she wasn't familiar with. He was here, he was with her again, he was home._

" _You're really here?" She questioned and cautiously lowered her hand away from her mouth, her one leg coming out from under her and her foot planting itself on the carpet, then the other leg followed suit. She took a step towards him but he was quick to close the remaining distance between them._

 _When his arms came around her, she felt the weight of the world drifting off of her shoulders. He was here now, he was really right there with her and he would finally be able to meet his very own daughter._

" _You sound so surprised." Peter murmured and tightened his hold on her, keeping her as close to him as he possibly could. She let out a shaky breath and squeezed her eyes shut, basking in the feeling of his embrace. This is what she had wanted, this is what she craved; for months it had been a world without him, a world lacking love and her sense of home, but he was here with her. Everything was all right, everything would_ _ **be**_ _all right._

" _I just…" She trailed off, not entirely sure what to say to him. She sucked in a breath, taking in his scent, and she felt her body instantly relaxing. "I've missed you, so much."_

" _I can assure you that the feeling is mutual."_

 _His voice sounded almost cheery, happy to be back with her and maybe it was genuine but Sydney didn't care. She'd deal with his moods, his lack of enthusiasm regarding most of their life together, she'd deal with it all so long as he was right there with her._

" _Did you see her yet?" Sydney asked and peered up at him, her eyes open and looking right at him. "Did you see our baby girl?"_

" _I haven't." He shook his head gently and Sydney slipped out of his hold, grabbing onto his hand instead. She tugged on his arm and led him over to the crib in the corner of the room._

 _Stopping to stand next to it, she peered down at her sleeping baby and stole a look at Peter, who was staring at Bruin. Peter hesitated but freed himself of Sydney's hand, then he reached down into the crib and carefully took hold of the baby, bringing her up and placing her against his chest._

" _She's beautiful." Peter remarked and readjusted his hold on Bruin, making sure she was secure and comfortable against his body. "Just like her mother."_

" _Bruin Lee." Sydney said in a whisper and her hand came up to gently run up and down Bruin's back._

" _She smells…"_

" _Like a perfect combination of you and me?" Sydney finished for him and smirked. Oh yes, Bruin's scent was a big comfort for her when she was having trouble calming herself down at night. "I'm glad you're here now."_

 _Peter just cocked his head to the side and waited for her to explain further. She didn't say a word though, instead, she moved over to the bed and sat on the edge, dropping her gaze down to her feet. If he was here now, if he was back, then maybe she'd be able to sleep right through the night without waking up from nightmares or the shakes. If Peter was back, maybe things could get back to normal._

 _She let out a sad sigh and fell onto her back, looking up at the ceiling as she listened to Peter and Bruin, the girl's father was whispering to her and Bruin was making soft cooing noises in response. It was a wonderful sound, a sound that Sydney hoped to hear more of for months to come._

" _Come lay with me." Sydney requested in a low tone and then proceeded to roll onto her side. She watched intently as Peter reluctantly relinquished his hold on Bruin and gently set her back in the crib._

 _Before she knew it, he was laying down beside her, his hand moving out towards her and gently running down the side of her face, feeling her skin to make sure she was still there. Sydney shied away from his gaze but basked in the feeling of his touch._

" _You've done well." Peter pointed out, his voice low so as not to disturb his child. "She's perfect."_

" _I've had some really good help." Sydney teased and instantly her mind drifted to her betas. The twins, and Charlie, would certainly know by now that Peter was back, they would've smelled him, or at least heard him, as soon as he entered the house. Maybe they were being respectful, knowing that she'd need some time alone with him to adjust, maybe they understood that she needed him._

" _I can imagine." He responded with a small smile._

" _You put her back in the crib and tucked her in, right?"_

" _I took care of her." Peter stated, a slight edge to his tone. Perhaps he was a little perturbed at the idea of Sydney thinking he couldn't handle his own daughter, perhaps he was just a little anxious now that he was back. Whatever the cause for his tone, she pushed it to the back of her mind and focused on the present._

" _She needs you."_

" _I know. I'm back now." He looked down at his hand, which was gently gripping her fingers. He intertwined his digits with hers and brought her hand up, pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles. "I'm not going to leave you."_

 _Sydney rolled onto her back and found herself smiling as Peter moved right along with her. She was looking up at him as his leg came over, resting on the other side of her, his knees right next to her hips. She was caged under him and he leaned down, pressing a kiss against her lips. She relaxed at the feeling and felt herself sinking into the mattress and when he pulled away, she lifted her hands up and made a move to set her palms on his shoulders._

 _Peter leaned over her and smirked at her, but this was an unfamiliar, almost eerie smirk. She tensed at the look on his face and when his forearm came down hard against her throat, she sucked in a breath and prayed that this wasn't what was really happening._

" _I'm sorry Sydney, I should've been a little more clear. I'm not going to leave you_ _ **alive**_ _."_

 _The pressure on her neck increased and Sydney's eyes widened at the prospect of dying, right in her bedroom while Bruin resided in her crib not more than ten feet away. At the sudden realization that the baby was silent, Sydney made a move to lean forward but Peter just held her down._

" _Bruin!" She choked the word out and Peter tilted his head to the side, studying her eyes as they flickered red._

" _I told you I took care of her." Peter snarled and Sydney tried desperately to twist her body out of his hold. She couldn't move, she couldn't get the upper hand. Whatever Peter had been up to while he had been gone had clearly increased his strength._

" _No, no, you can't hurt her!" Sydney was gasping, getting the words out by using the last bits of energy she had._

" _Nothing can hurt her now." Peter said ominously and Sydney gave one last attempt to get free. He leaned down, forcing all of his weight onto her windpipe and she chocked at the lack of air. "I told you once before that I was the alpha and I'll_ _ **always**_ _be the alpha."_

" _Stop!" She sucked in but no air made it to her lungs._

" _You're too blinded by love, jaded by the hope of a future! You're not supposed to be_ _ **my**_ _alpha, I'm supposed to be_ _ **yours**_ _!"_

 _Sydney was reduced to silence as he pressed harder and harder on her neck. Bruin was already gone, he had already taken care of her and now she was next. But what about her other betas, were they okay or had he gotten to them too?_

 _When a strangled cry sounded out from the crib, Sydney's body tensed, every single muscle tightening. Was Bruin still alive? She needed to be alive and she needed her mother to protect her._

 _When a loud screamed echoed into the room from the corner, Sydney lifted her hands up and pressed them against Peter's chest, the tips of her fingers resting against the material of his shirt. She forced her claws out and they pierced through the shirt and his skin, drawing blood as she jammed her fingers harder against him._

 _Blood oozed out of the wounds and she continued to fight back against him as Bruin's cried grew louder. She could feel her claws sawing and slicing through his skin, his flesh, his muscles, as she drove her hands deeper and deeper into his chest. When she felt a pounding against her right palm, she gasped but surged forward, wrapping her fingers around what she could only assume was his heart._

 _Without thinking twice about it, she grabbed hold of the beating organ and pulled, ripping it right out of his chest. His eyes widened at her in clear and utter shock before his limbs went limp and he collapsed on top of her, smothering her with the dead weight of his now lifeless body. Bruin let out one last final screech and she felt her entire body going numb._

Sydney jerked into a sitting position and spotted the shadow lurking in her door. She backed up and felt the headboard digging into her shoulders but she was undeterred. Swinging her legs to the side, she leapt out of the bed and dashed over to the crib in the corner of the room, at which point the shadow flipped the bedroom light on and illuminated the room.

Her attention was drawn to the door and she locked her eyes on Aidan, who was staring at her, wondering what the hell had just happened. Sydney shook her head at him and reached down into the crib, taking hold of a sleeping Bruin and lifting her up, cradling her against her chest.

"What are you doing up?" Sydney asked in a whisper and glanced at the clock on her nightstand. The red numbers read '3:17' and she knew that Aidan wasn't just staying up late for fun.

"I can feel you." He confessed and quietly walked into the room, coming up behind her and resting a palm on her shoulder. "We're pack, that means that a lot of the things that you experience, I can feel them too. I've been trying to stay away during the nights but tonight it felt like your heart was going to explode it was pounding so bad."

"You can really feel that?" She countered with a sad look on her face, then she took Bruin over to her bed and sat on the edge, still holding her baby girl tight in her arms. "I had a nightmare, a really bad one."

"Want to talk about it?" Aidan questioned and wandered around to the other side of her bed. He hopped up and made himself comfortable as he planted his butt in her pillows, Sydney scooting across the sheets to curl up against his side. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"It's okay." She mumbled and leaned her head down to press a gentle kiss against Bruin's head. "I dreamed that Peter came back."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad." Aidan remarked with a teasing smile.

"It wasn't, until he started choking me. I'm pretty sure he killed you guys in the dream and he attempted to kill Bruin too. He was trying to claim my alpha status."

"Oh Jesus, that does sound awful."

Sydney let out an exasperated sigh and tipped her head back, glancing up at Aidan, "I miss him, so damn much."

Aidan nodded his understanding and set his arm around her shoulders. He watched Bruin sleeping for a few seconds and then looked into Sydney's eyes, which were red.

"You're allowed to miss him, he was a big part of your life before you left him in Eichen House. He'll come back one day and when he does, I won't let him hurt you, neither will Ethan or Charlie." Aidan explained. "And he definitely won't hurt Bruin, _ever_ , unless he has a death wish of his own."

Sydney dropped her head down and looked at Bruin, sucking in a breath in an attempt to calm herself down. She was still fearful of what would happen if and when Peter finally came back into their lives. She had seen him and how he acted with Malia, his other daughter, and that didn't necessarily bode well for her and Bruin. If he was willing to manipulate her to get what he wanted, what was stopping him from doing the same thing to Bruin.

Well for starters, Aidan had just admitted that if Peter wanted to hurt Bruin, or Sydney for that matter, that he'd have to go through him, Ethan and Charlie, that was a plus, wasn't it? But was it possible that Peter would be able to get through her three betas and if he even tried, wasn't it her job as their alpha to do whatever she could to keep them safe too?

"I don't like not knowing what he's doing." Sydney confessed in a breathy tone. "It scares me to think that maybe he's not doing that well in Eichen House, I mean, it's very possible that there's bad people in there too that could be using him-"

"That man is impossible to hurt, in any way. He's like a cockroach that just won't go away. When the world is destroyed by nuclear weapons, he'll be sitting pretty with the rest of the indestructible animals out there playing cards."

Sydney let out a chuckle at his words. She knew that he was just trying to make her feel better but she knew that he wasn't totally wrong. Peter had survived this long and there had been some pretty nasty and strong people who had tried to take him out. If he was going to go out, he'd go out fighting and that fact alone relaxed her a little bit.

"You're right. I just can't help but think about the future, you know. Like if he hadn't gotten himself admitted would we have been a happy little family, would we have gotten married, that sort of thing." Sydney explained and Aidan leaned against her, letting himself relax. "We're not normal people, but does that mean we don't get normal things?"

"You _want_ to marry Peter Hale?" Aidan asked with a grin.

"Okay, when you say it out loud, it makes me realize that maybe _I_ should be the one in the insane asylum." Sydney grumbled. "But I don't know, I think it's something that I could want. Don't you ever want to get married?"

"I think so. I want to find the one, I want to be with her forever and I think, especially after Bruin here, I want kids of my own."

"Do we get that stuff though?" She asked, genuinely curious about what werewolves were entitled too versus what humans were. "Do we get 'happily ever afters' or are we forever doomed to a life that we have to defend at every turn?"

"Well you were friends with Derek when you were younger, what was his family like?" Aidan countered.

She furrowed her eyebrows at his question and tried to think back to the time when she was a kid, when she lived in Beacon Hills with her parents. His family had all the normal stuff, there were people in his family that were married, and at that thought, her mind instantly drifted to her own family.

Her mother and father were married, they had her, they were as normal as normal could be, but they had been slaughtered and Derek's family had been lit on fire. Even if she did manage to have a normal life, someone could easily come along and destroy it in the blink of an eye.

"Maybe we don't get to have that sort of thing." Sydney shrugged. "My parents were killed, Derek's family was practically obliterated, what about your parents?"

"I don't like to talk about it." Aidan countered and she knew enough not to push it. She had lost her parents and she understood how it felt to not want to talk, or even think, about something bad that had happened. "What about Charlie though, she's had a pretty normal life."

"Yeah, until I brought her here." Sydney groaned. "I brought her right into the heart of chaos. What the hell was I thinking?"

Aidan gently rested his head on the top of hers and let out a sigh, hoping that she'd be able to calm herself on her own. He was ready to jump in and tell her what packs did for each other but he was hoping she'd get there on her own.

There wasn't anything in Beacon Hills that was going to get to Charlie, that was why Ethan acted like her shadow any time she went out. Sydney had to know that, she had to realize that he and Ethan were going to do whatever they could to protect Charlie, Sydney and Bruin, no matter what. She may be his alpha but Aidan knew that he was willing to protect her just as much as she was willing to protect him.

"She can handle herself." Aidan said softly.

"I guess." Sydney groaned again.

"She _can_. You've been training with her for months, so have we, she's fully capable of handling herself. You just have to trust her."

"I do, I just…I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you guys. You're my family, you're all I have left."

"You're family to us too but you have Bruin to worry about. You're a mother before you're an alpha, we all understand that."

"But you guys-"

"You're a mother before _anything_ , you just have to accept it." Aidan cut her off and leveled her with a reassuring smile. Sydney sucked in a shaky breath and shook her head at him in disbelief.

All this time she had prided herself on being the one to protect everyone that she could but was Aidan right? He did have a point, she was Bruin's mother, she had a baby to look out for, but did that mean that she was supposed to just let her pack suffer without her?

But he had also said that she had trained them, she had spent months helping them all get into great shape while also doing her best to learn about all of the potential supernatural creatures that were out there in the world. Her very own bestiary had come along rather nicely and she knew that whatever was thrown their way, they'd deal with it, as a pack.

"Thanks." She sighed and Aidan let out a chuckle.

"We want the same things as you do you know?"

"You want Peter back too?" She looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Well maybe not all the same things but we all want everyone to be okay, we don't want anything to happen to the others, we're all willing to do whatever it takes to protect our fellow pack members." Aidan explained. "You have to trust us."

She let out another sigh and felt her body relaxing further against his side, which is exactly what she needed at that moment: someone who was right there to support her, with whatever she chose. She was ready to admit that maybe he had a point, maybe she needed to trust her pack more than she already did. They were there for her just as much as she was there for them and they'd make it through anything that came their way, so long as they did it together.

Aidan shifted down and laid on the bed, his head in the pillows as Sydney carefully followed his lead, readjusting Bruin so that she was lying on her chest. Her hand moved up and down her baby's back while Aidan's hand ran up and down Sydney's arm in a soothing gesture. He was right there beside her and he'd be right there beside her for as long as they needed each other.

"You're going to be okay." Aidan murmured.

"Yeah, I have you." She countered and he let out a bark of laughter, immediately wincing as Bruin's body jerked at the sound. The two of them fell silent and waited for her to wake up but when she didn't make another sound, or another move, except for her soft breathing, Sydney shook her head at him with a smile. "Thank you for always being there for me, especially when I'm having nightmares."

"Hey, like I said, I can feel you and so can Ethan, but we sort of agreed that as long as he's on 'follow Charlie' duty, I can handle the midnight interruptions." He teased and Sydney let out a contented sigh. "Believe me, we like being part of your pack, you're a good alpha."

"Yeah?" She looked up at him, a hope filled expression on her face.

"Yes. You gave us a chance when no one else would, you saw us for more than just killers."

"You and Ethan are strong." She countered with a slight shrug. "People make mistakes, everyone deserves a second chance and maybe in the process you can redeem yourselves to those that need to see it."

"Either way, my brother and I owe you. Thank you, for giving us a pack."

"Thank _you_ for giving me a chance."

A blanket of silence fell over them and Sydney let her eyes fall shut as she considered the possibilities of what her future held. She had a pack, a strong, smart pack at that and she knew that Aidan was right. They worked well together, they meshed together like a family and there wasn't anything in the world that would change Sydney's mind about her betas.

They were perfect in her eyes and even if they made mistakes, in the past or in the times to come, then she'd be there to help them. They were worth it to her, they were her family and she'd do anything that she could to keep them safe, and now she knew that they would do the same for her. The betas that she had were perfect in her eyes and she wouldn't trade them for anything, or anyone else, in the world.

"Syd, stop thinking so much and go back to sleep." Aidan's voice broke into her thoughts and Sydney felt her cheeks burning at being caught. "Did you want me to stay here with you or did you want me to leave?"

"Stay, at least for a little while." She pleaded and Aidan nodded his head.

So long as she needed him, he wasn't going to go anywhere.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 _ **IMPORTANT: So there's been a bit of concern expressed regarding the presence of Peter. I'm trying to keep the story canon and unfortunately Peter was a no show for 5A and 5B which makes it rather difficult for me to weave him into the story. I promise that if you stick with me, it'll be worth it in the end. Sydney is a new mother too, which is another aspect that makes fitting her into the adventures more challenging. She's not going to be able to tag along all the time but I've tried my hardest to keep her right in the thick of things. I have put a tremendous amount of time and effort into this story, I have struggled greatly at times with what to write and where to take the characters, and I just hope that you guys continue to hang in there. If/when Peter comes back in the show, I can guarantee that it'll be an explosive reunion for him and Sydney.**_

 ** _A little bit of Aidan/Sydney bonding, thoughts on those two? Also, do you think there's a deeper meaning to her nightmare, do you think that Sydney has a valid reason not to trust Peter if he ever shows back up in her life? I know it's not the same as having Peter with Sydney but I'm trying to keep things interesting, even without him being around._**

 ** _Chaz746: Thank you so much! Stiles and Sydney certainly have a special bond, that's all I'm going to say about that :)_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: They're pretty adorable as friends for sure!_**

 ** _Xhex1: I'm sorry to hear that :( I know it's been a lot of Charlie and this season has been difficult for me to write. I appreciate the review and I just hope that maybe you give this story another chance (if not, I understand). As I said in the note above, I can promise that once Sydney and Peter finally do reunite (whenever that may be), it won't be easy for either of them._**


	20. Chapter 20

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 20:**_

"Do you have a car?" Liam asked.

Charlie hadn't been expecting anyone to come up to her and ask her that particular question but she especially hadn't been expecting it to come from Liam, who was currently standing beside her as she worked her way into her locker. Some kid stood next to him with an excited grin on his face and while she wasn't entirely sure who he was, she could make the assumption that this was _the_ Mason, the very Mason that Stiles and Scott were going to allow into their circle of the supernatural.

She cocked her head to the side in curiosity, lifted a finger into the air to imply she needed just one more minute, and then she went right back to getting her locker open. Pulling the handle up, she let the door swing open, then she leaned against the wall with her hip and crossed her arms over her chest with a smirk on her face.

"Why?" She shot back and Liam glanced around the hallway, taking in the sight of the people moving around them. It was lunch time and she knew that most of the students were heading towards the cafeteria for food but there were a few stragglers who headed out to the parking lot and got into their cars, leaving the campus until class was set to begin again early in the afternoon.

"We," Liam paused and pointed to himself and the kid with him, "need a ride somewhere and Stiles suggested that you might be able to help us."

"First of all," Charlie leveled her eyes on the kid next to Liam, "who's _we_?"

"Oh, this is Mason." Liam added, catching her lingering gaze on his best friend.

" _The_ Mason?" She narrowed her eyes in on him and took in the sight of him as he grinned back at her with pride. He seemed adorable, like another little Liam for her to hang out with and if he was half as much fun as Liam had been the other night in the forest, then she knew that she wanted to be a part of their adventure, even if she didn't exactly have a car at that moment.

"Yeah, _the_ Mason. Anyways, do you have a car?" He echoed his question from earlier and Charlie made a move to grab her cell phone out of her pocket.

Ethan was hanging around nearby, she knew that, but all he had was a motorcycle, which would be of no use to the three of them, so that idea was out. But maybe there was someone who could help them, someone who had a car of their very own and doubled as a fellow werewolf.

"I don't but my alpha does." She answered casually and began punching out a text to Sydney, who she was hoping would be on board with her last minute plans, but she stopped typing and thought that she'd get more details from the two boys before disturbing her at home. "But you've got to tell me why you need a car if I'm going to get her to pick us up and take us somewhere."

Liam and Mason looked at each other and Charlie glanced up at them from the screen. They seemed to be having some sort of silent conversation, using only facial expressions, and when the two of them turned their attention back to her, she raised an eyebrow in question.

"We need to go see a guy about a werewolf." Liam answered with a casual shrug, as though it was the most normal request ever.

"Brett, Brett Talbot. He's hot." Mason added with a smug smile and Charlie found herself liking this kid already. Yes, he was certainly someone that she could be friends with, especially if he willy nilly called other people hot. Maybe this guy could be her wingman, if she ever needed one.

"Why do you need to see this guy though?" Charlie lowered her voice, suggesting that if it had something to do with the supernatural that she could keep it on the down low, she could keep the other students from overhearing what they were talking about and ultimately keep their supernatural secret.

"Well, this girl Tracy, she attacked and killed her dad and her shrink last night and we're pretty sure she's a werewolf so Lydia and Kira came up with this great idea to go talk to this other alpha's beta, who I sort of know, in Beacon Hills to see if maybe he knows something about her." Liam explained quickly but Charlie wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about. He had said too much too fast for her to get a grasp on what was going down.

Apparently there was another alpha in Beacon Hills who wasn't Scott or Sydney, and these two needed to talk to one of their betas, well, that was certainly one for the books. She hadn't had that sort of request before. Without putting it off any longer, Charlie brought up Sydney's number and dialed it, hoping that her own alpha would answer the phone rather quickly. Time, after all, was ticking.

"Who's the alpha though?" Charlie asked as an afterthought and listened to the phone ringing in her ear. Sydney, true to form, picked up on the second ring and said a frantic hello, clearly panicked at the thought of something bad happening to Charlie. "Syd, chill, I'm fine, I just need a favour."

"Her name's Satomi." Liam supplied in a whisper and Charlie nodded her head, acknowledging that she had heard him.

"Liam and his adorable little friend Mason need to go talk to this other beta about some girl and I was wondering if you'd be able to give us a ride." Charlie said into the phone and Liam glanced over to his friend, a hopeful look on his face. "Or, I mean, maybe Aidan can borrow your car even?"

"Hang on, who's the beta?" Sydney questioned, her voice loud and clear on the phone to anyone who had werewolf hearing, which meant that Liam was right there with Charlie, knowing exactly what was happening.

"Brett Talbot, his alpha is Satomi-"

"Satomi, god, yes, I'll be right there to get you- shit wait, uh, let me…I have to make sure Aidan's good to watch- maybe I will just send Aidan, he can totally borrow my car."

"Syd, you sound so disappointed." Charlie paused and heard Sydney sigh on the other end of the line. "I'm pretty sure Aidan can handle Bruin for an hour or two, at most. Maybe he can even get her to settle down and have a nap, come on Syd, please?"

"Right, yes, he can handle her for a little while. I guess I'll just let him know." Sydney sounded so much less disappointed at the prospect of joining Charlie on her adventure, it was a nice feeling for Charlie: knowing that Sydney was actually looking forward to something. "So, you're at the high school, right?"

"Yes." Charlie nodded her head, even though she knew Sydney couldn't see her. "Pick us up at the front, by the parking lot?"

"I'll be there in ten." Sydney shot back.

There was no goodbye, no words to end the conversation, Sydney had simply hung up. Charlie knew that she was going to be working fast as she informed Aidan that she was taking off for a little bit and he'd have to look after her baby for that time. It wasn't anything new, Aidan had quite often looked after Bruin when he needed to, but no matter how often he ended up with her, Sydney was never completely sure that she should be leaving her baby at all.

Charlie tucked the phone back into her pocket and looked at Liam and Mason, a giant smile forming on her face. Liam smiled back at him and took off in a run towards the front of the school while Mason hung back with Charlie.

"You're Mason, it's good to finally meet you." Charlie bowed her head and offered him her hand. "I've heard a little bit about you."

"All good I hope." He smiled at her. "And you're…?"

"Charlie, like Liam here, I am a fellow werewolf." She chuckled in response and shook his hand once he gripped hers. When they pulled their hands away from each other, she gave a nod in the direction that Liam had just taken off in. "Shall we get a move on?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Mason nodded and followed along behind her as she headed for the front of the school, the two of them walking slightly faster than normal.

They were quiet as they walked through the hallways and when they stepped outside, into the fresh early afternoon air, they easily spotted Liam standing on the edge of the sidewalk near the parking lot, anxiously waiting for their ride. Charlie came up behind him and gave him a gentle nudge with her elbow, catching his attention within seconds.

"Is she really a good alpha?" Liam turned his attention to her and asked in a low tone, closing the distance between himself and Charlie so that no one would be able to overhear their conversation. "Do you like her?"

"Syd's a great alpha and I love her. She's pretty much part of my family now." Charlie answered with a fond smile. Yes, she really did enjoy having Sydney as her alpha and she couldn't wait to see her in the middle of the day. Getting her to agree to leave her new baby hadn't been as hard as Charlie had been expecting but there was still a little bit of resistance on Sydney's part.

She was a mother after all and no mother liked to leave their baby if they didn't have to. Adventure was calling though and Charlie knew that Sydney was going to want to get out of the house eventually. She hadn't really left the property since the night of the storm, the night she had found Deputy Parrish in the basement of the creepy house that Sydney had stopped at on her way home. Charlie would have been going a little stir crazy if she had been in Sydney's position, even with a baby to look after.

Yes, it was time to get her alpha back into the action, Sydney needed to get involved instead of having Charlie or Ethan relay the information to her. She needed to get involved so that she knew, first hard, what they were dealing with. It was time for Sydney to be an alpha again and not just a parent.

When Sydney pulled up in her car, Charlie couldn't help but smile and she headed right for the front seat, leaving the two boys to fight it out in the back. When the three of them were all inside the car, Charlie looked from Sydney to Mason and then over to Liam, expecting him to make introductions.

"Oh uh, Sydney, this is my friend Mason, Mason this is Sydney, she's an alpha." Liam stated with an anxious smile. It had been months since he had seen Sydney and Charlie didn't blame him for being a little skittish around her. He didn't seem to know her all that well in general and here he was sitting in the back seat with his human best friend, ready to be carted off to go visit another werewolf.

"An alpha, like Scott?" Mason leaned forward to get a better look at Sydney and she merely smiled at his words.

"No, not exactly. Scott's a true alpha." Liam broke in.

"Syd's not a true alpha, she had to take the alpha status from someone who was already an alpha." Charlie added with a knowing smile. "But that's a story for a different day, for right now, where are we headed boys?"

"Devenford Prep, the lacrosse field there." Liam answered and the entire car fell silent as Sydney pulled away.

Oh yes, it was good to be doing things like this with Sydney again and Charlie was just barely able to contain her excitement.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Liam led the way once the car was parked in the visitor's parking lot. He seemed confident but not totally, not with the nervous energy wafting off of him. It didn't matter to Sydney though, she had ulterior motives to driving them, she wanted to talk to Brett about someone else, not this Tracy girl who Liam was desperate to get information on.

No, Sydney had encountered Satomi's pack once before, when they had all been huddled in the back of Deaton's vet clinic, hiding from whoever had been running the dead pool. There was a particular little blonde girl who Sydney wanted to know about, she wanted to make sure that Sam was doing okay, especially since she had lost her mother before the dead pool happened.

Sydney lagged behind the other three and watched as Liam's lips curled up in disgust. Mason had a look of absolute excitement on his face and Charlie had her eyes glued to her phone, most likely texting Isaac Lahey over in France. She came to a stop a few feet behind them and leaned against the side of the bleachers, hoping that she could maybe get Brett alone for a few minutes once Liam was done talking to him.

There were a few guys running around on the field and the guy they had come to see was shirtless, taking control of the lacrosse ball and heading for the net. Once the ball connected with the back of the goal, Brett stopped running, lifted his stick into the air and braced it against the tops of his shoulders, and that's when he finally looked in their direction.

"So, he's a werewolf too?" She heard Mason ask, wonder lacing his tone.

"Yup." Liam grunted in response.

"This just gets better and better." Mason added, his smile growing.

"You were right Mason, he _is_ hot." Charlie remarked, pulling her attention away from her phone long enough to study Brett's form. Sydney shook her head in amusement at her beta and wondered if maybe Charlie was going to use Brett's existence in an attempt to get Isaac back to California.

She wouldn't have put it past her, Charlie could be very cunning when it came to things that she wanted and the longer her and Isaac conversed, the more Charlie wanted to meet him in person. Sydney wasn't too far away from offering to fly him back over from France, if that would help her beta out.

"Guys, let's focus." Sydney scoffed but the smile on her face said it all, she was thoroughly entertained by the people in front of her. "How do you plan on getting him over here?"

"Huh, good point." Mason stole a quick glance back at Sydney but when he turned his attention back to the field, he noticed that Charlie was heading right for him.

Sydney let out a snort of laughter and watched as her beta approached the guy that they had come to see. Brett watched her with undivided attention as she spoke to him, asking him if he'd be willing to spare a few minutes to help out his 'good buddy Liam'. Liam let out a groan at her words but when Brett nodded at her, he looked over at Sydney.

She flashed her red eyes at him, pushed herself off the side of the bleachers and took off in a jog towards Charlie, who was leading Brett back over towards the rest of them, effectively putting a stop to the lacrosse playing going on back on the field.

Once she was within a few feet of the metal player's bench between her and the others, Brett slowed down and used his hand to point to his bag, signaling that that was where they could talk. Liam and Mason took off, moving to stand next to Brett as he unzipped his bag, Sydney hanging back for a few seconds before following their lead. She took up a stance behind the two boys and planted her hands on her hips, hoping that this wasn't a wasted trip.

Liam produced his cell phone and brought up a picture of someone that Sydney didn't recognize.

"That's Tracy." Mason whispered to her, clearly her confusion had been obvious.

"Right." Sydney nodded at him and Mason threw her a smile, apparently rather excited to be helpful, especially to another alpha.

Liam took in the picture quickly before turning the phone towards Brett, the screen in his line of sight. Brett narrowed his eyes on the girl in the picture but promptly shook his head no.

"Cute, but I've never seen her." Brett remarked and Liam pulled his phone away from Brett's gaze.

"Could Satomi have turned her without you knowing?" Liam asked and Sydney wondered if this kid was being serious. It would've been extremely hard for an alpha werewolf to hide a freshly bitten beta from their pack and Satomi was no exception.

"After the dead pool, Satomi's not exactly doing much recruiting." Brett answered and grabbed hold of a t-shirt, which had been tucked away in the lacrosse bag residing on the metal player's bench. He set it on the top of the bag and Sydney took a look at her own beta, watching as Charlie nearly started drooling at the sight of the half-naked guy in front of her.

"That's how it works? Alpha werewolves just go around biting people?" Mason asked, his tone laced with wonder as he stole a split second glance at Sydney, who turned her head with a smile.

"Or you can be born, like me and my sister." Brett explained and moved some of the smaller lacrosse equipment from the bench to the inside of his bag. "Satomi took us in after our family died in a fire."

Sydney sucked in a breath, ready to ask if Brett had a minute to speak with her in private but Liam's body visibly tensed as he studied the picture on his cell phone screen. She shook her head and knew that it was better to wait until the time was right.

"Guys, I think I just found something." Liam announced and Sydney narrowed her eyes on the young beta. Charlie moved closer to her though and slipped her hand into hers, providing her with the tiniest bit of reassurance that this was all going rather well.

"What?" Charlie barked, wondering what the hell Liam was so insistent on.

"Her necklace," Liam paused and showed them all the picture one more time, Sydney taking in the sight of the leaf shaped pendent on the silver chain, "I saw that the other night, when I fell in the hole."

"You fell in a hole?" Mason cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, it was huge." Charlie remarked with a chuckle.

"So you saw her necklace in this hole that you fell in?" Sydney pressed, hoping to get Liam, Mason and Charlie distracted enough so that she could ask Brett about Sam.

"I swear, it's the same necklace." Liam stated.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go." Charlie waved her free hand into the air and let go of Sydney. She turned her back to Brett and made a move to take a step towards the parking lot but she hesitated, glancing back at the rest of them and making a mental note that they weren't moving.

"You can go wait in the car, I'd actually like to talk to Brett for a second, _alone_." Sydney piped up and Charlie met her eyes, watching as red flickered through her irises. Whatever Sydney needed to talk to Brett about was something serious and Charlie wasn't about to question her.

"Come on guys, let's go wait in the car." Charlie suggested and reluctantly, Liam and Mason trailed along after her as she led them all away.

Sydney waited for a little bit and when she could no longer see her beta, plus Liam and Mason, she turned her attention to Brett, who was pulling a t-shirt on over his head. He looked back at her and nodded his head, motioning for her to go ahead and say what she needed to say to him.

"I just wondered if Sam was alright." Sydney asked in a low tone, a little fearful of what Brett might tell her about the little girl. "How is she?"

"Sam's okay." Brett answered, his voice as low as hers. "Satomi's having trouble though, Sam doesn't have any real family left and as much as the rest of the pack tries to help out, it's obvious that she's missing her mom."

Sydney nodded her understanding and found herself wondering exactly how much Sam was struggling. Sydney could relate, she had lost her own mother when she was young, but she had ended up with her grandparents, who were decent to her. She hadn't completely lost her family, she at least had someone who cared for her.

"Satomi knows that if she ever needs someone to talk to, she can call me, right?" Sydney asked shyly, wondering if this was how alphas treated one another; did they act as allies, did they treat one another as equals or was there some sort of hierarchy?

"I'll let her know." Brett smiled at her and Sydney felt herself feeling rather anxious for Sam's well-being. "I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and looked Brett up and down, taking in the sight of him. She could see why everyone thought he was attractive, he wasn't by any means ugly, but he was definitely too young for her, which was definitely a turn off. He _did_ seem like a nice guy though, which made her feel a little bit better when it came to Sam.

"You coming then?" Sydney asked suddenly, desperate to change the subject before she did something ridiculous and offer to take Sam off their hands for a little while. "I assume you're invited to this hole investigation."

"Yea, thanks, but I'll take my own car." Brett said with an amused tone.

Sydney waved her hand at him and turned towards the direction of the parking lot. She hesitated for a few seconds but didn't turn back to face him, instead, she pushed everything to the back of her mind, found herself thinking of Bruin and decided that she was going to drop off the three betas wherever they needed to be dropped off and then she'd head home to Bruin.

Ethan could handle watching over Charlie for the evening, but even as Sydney walked towards the car, she wondered if maybe it was time to let Charlie go out on her own, without a shadow.

The idea of Charlie traipsing through the forest with Liam, Mason and Brett without Ethan there to protect her terrified Sydney but she knew that it was probably one of the better opportunities. At least if something was going to happen, she'd be with two other werewolves, one of whom was born that way. Yes, it was the best opportunity and Sydney wasn't going to ignore it.

This was going to be her test, it was going to be _their_ test. Sydney would let Charlie go off on her own, and if the girl came back unharmed and no worse for wear, then maybe she'd let up on the whole shadow thing. Surely Ethan would be glad to have his own life back, instead of chasing around a teenager, and maybe Sydney could get him to agree to take on a different assignment, maybe he'd be willing to start his own investigation into this Theo kid that had mysteriously reappeared in Beacon Hills. She wanted to know why he could go full wolf, according to Ethan, and unless she changed the way she ran her pack, she might not get to find out what the kid's deal was.

This would be a good thing, right?

If she could just do what Aidan had suggested in the middle of the night and trust her pack, maybe things would start to come together. After all, wasn't it about time that Charlie got a little bit of freedom?

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _IMPORTANT: So there's been a bit of concern expressed regarding the presence of Peter. I'm trying to keep the story canon and unfortunately Peter was a no show for 5A and 5B which makes it rather difficult for me to weave him into the story. I promise that if you stick with me, it'll be worth it in the end. Sydney is a new mother too, which is another aspect that makes fitting her into the adventures more challenging. She's not going to be able to tag along all the time but I've tried my hardest to keep her right in the thick of things. I have put a tremendous amount of time and effort into this story, I have struggled greatly at times with what to write and where to take the characters, and I just hope that you guys continue to hang in there. If/when Peter comes back in the show, I can guarantee that it'll be an explosive reunion for him and Sydney._**

 ** _Sydney's starting to get involved in the adventures! Do you agree that Charlie should be getting a little bit of freedom or should Sydney be wary of her going off without a fellow pack member?_**

 ** _Also, were you guys excited to hear about Sam again?_**


	21. Chapter 21

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 21** **:**_

Charlie had been a little surprised when Sydney had confessed that she was going to be going on this little adventure solo. Charlie had thought she meant that Sydney was taking off to get home, which was fine by her, but when she followed it up by claiming that Ethan was already on his way back to the house, Charlie knew that solo meant she was completely on her own.

The excitement at not having a shadow almost outweighed the nerves at not having someone familiar looking out for her. Sure she was with three other people but she barely knew them and from what she had seem of Liam in the forest before, she wasn't entirely confident in his werewolf abilities.

Either way, she was in the middle of the forest, trekking through the trees behind Brett, Liam and Mason, while she looked around, trying to get a handle on where exactly they were. She felt a little naked without Ethan's comforting scent lingering in the air but nonetheless, she continued to stick with the guys. She knew that they'd be her best bet if something, or someone, decided to target them.

"Sure you know where you're going?" Brett asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. Charlie wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting to happen out in the middle of the forest but she knew that she had a point to prove to Sydney, she could take care of herself, she could survive without Ethan lurking in the shadows nearby, even if she already missed having him close enough to keep her safe. If that meant she'd have to be a little more cautious than normal, well then so be it.

"I know where I am." Liam fired back, clearly a little irritated by the idea of them having Brett with them. It was adorable really, how much Liam seemed to despise Brett when in Charlie's mind Brett was a decent enough guy, at least from what she'd seen so far. Sydney seemed to trust him enough to let her go off with him, and the two boys, so that had to mean something, right?

"So do I, middle of nowhere." Brett stated sarcastically and came to a stop, Charlie moving to stand beside him as he waved his hands out in front of him, as if that would prove his point.

Sure she hadn't been all that thrilled with the idea of looking for a _hole_ in the middle of the woods but she was a little more excited than Brett, who seemed to be more annoyed that Liam had dragged them out into the 'middle of nowhere' as he had so nicely put it. He needed to understand that this hole had the potential to break the mystery surrounding Tracy wide open, plus the longer it took them, the later they'd be out and Charlie was almost more excited at that prospect.

This was a Sydney sanctioned adventure, her alpha had been on board with Charlie heading out with the boys, and alone no less. That involved a lot of trust and Charlie wasn't going to waste her freedom, she wasn't sure if she'd lose it again later.

Mason had pressed on, leaving Charlie next to Brett and Brett next to Liam, who was a good foot shorter than him. When a loud cry of surprise sounded out in the eerie forest, which was then followed by a hollow thudding noise, all three of the werewolves turned their attention to where Mason had been seconds ago.

If Charlie hadn't experienced Liam's dive into the hole nights earlier, she might've been a little more concerned but she wasn't. She was positive that Mason was okay and that he was just chilling in a hole nearby.

"Guys?" Mason's voice sounded out of a dark spot in the ground about fifteen feet away and Charlie knew that he had found the hole before he spoke again.

Liam and Brett looked at one another and then took off walking in the direction of the hole in the ground. Charlie didn't hesitate for a second before taking off after them, moving closer to the hole but keeping her body behind Brett's. He was clearly more experienced with the whole 'being a werewolf' thing and he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. Even if she didn't completely trust him, she knew that in a fight, he'd be more likely to come out on top, purely based on his skill level.

Liam, in her eyes, was still just a pup, barely able to control himself during the full moon, at least according to Stiles. Yes, for tonight, she'd gravitate towards Brett.

The two of them came to a stop on the edge of the hole and glanced down at Mason who was right where Charlie figured he'd be. He was rubbing his head, as though hurt, and she wondered if he had hurt himself during the fall.

"I think I found it." Mason stated and stopped the rubbing of his head.

"You and Liam have an affinity for finding giant holes in the ground, you know that." Charlie remarked, her voice slightly louder than normal because she wasn't sure what the acoustics were like inside the hole.

"Hey, at least we found them." Liam shot back. "How many holes have you found?"

"Oh my god." Charlie shook her head and let out a frustrated sigh at his question. She wasn't going to respond any more, not unless she had something valuable to add.

"See the necklace?" Liam asked, turning his attention back into the hole. Mason's cell phone lit up, the hole brightening instantly and he moved around in a circle while standing inside the hole.

He crouched down and ran his hands over the dead and dry leaves littering the bottom of the hole, Charlie listening to the sounds of the crunching foliage and letting out a contented sigh. She _did_ like that sound after all, there was something almost soothing about it.

"No, I don't see it." Mason answered and turned his attention to the three of them standing next to the side of the hole above him.

Brett took a step forward and bent down, extending his arm into the hole. Mason latched on and he hauled him out, Liam supporting him as he stepped on solid ground. Charlie moved forward and used her palms to wipe the dirt off his shoulders, Mason throwing her an appreciate smile as she did so.

"How was the hole?" She asked with a smirk and Mason smiled right back at her, shaking his head in the process.

Mason bent over and examined the edge of the hole, running his fingers over the dirt mounded there. Charlie dropped down into a crouch next to him and looked into the hole, part of her wondering what it would be like to see the world from inside.

"Liam, I-I thought you said this was a sinkhole." Mason stated, pulling Charlie back to the task at hand. Yes, they were out in the forest for a reason, that reason being to find Tracy's necklace. That was much more important than wondering what it would be like to be inside the giant hole.

"It's a hole, what's the difference?" Liam countered with a shrug.

"I mean, look at all these handprints and look at all this dirt." Mason pointed out and the other two boys squatted down next to Mason, each and every one of them had a hand on the edge of the hole for stability.

"She didn't fall in here." Brett announced and Charlie stared at him.

Suddenly she had a million questions running through her mind, the most prominent one was 'who was digging the holes that people kept falling in'. She looked to the other two boys and Liam shook his head, now she was worried. If she didn't fall into the hole, did that mean she was trapped there? Had a hunter dug the hole hoping to catch her? Or was there something more sinister at work in the forest?

"She was buried." Liam proclaimed and Charlie sucked in a nervous breath.

Tracy had been buried in the hole? And if that was the case, how had she gotten herself out? Had she been buried while she was conscious or had whoever done that to her had the audacity to bury her while she was out cold? What the hell was going on here and why had Sydney left Charlie alone? At this point, Charlie would've given anything to know that Ethan was within hearing distance and that he'd come running right for her if she needed him.

"Intense." Mason gasped and Charlie immediately slapped him on the shoulder.

She fired a glare in his direction and they all made quick work of standing straight up. Mason lifted his hands up in surrender as she growled at him, clearly very freaked out at the prospect of being in the woods in the dark.

"Hey, whoa, no need for that." Brett broke out and gently set his hand on Charlie's shoulder, nudging her backwards and away from the hole.

"He's new to all this." Liam defended his friend and Charlie blinked her eyes, staring at Mason as he looked at her, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"Fine, but he has to start taking this seriously." She shot back and shrugged out of Brett's grasp.

"It's intense." Mason stated and kept his hands up.

"Well I know that." She huffed in response but her glare softened. Okay, maybe she could relate, he _was_ new after all and she had been just as excited once upon a time. The whole idea of supernatural creatures existing must've been interesting to Mason and maybe he just didn't totally understand how truly dangerous being a werewolf was.

He'd just have to learn quickly, especially if he was going to remain a part of their world.

Charlie shook her head at them all and turned back to face the trail. There was something almost peaceful about being out in the forest at night but she didn't want to stick around after the boys figured out that Tracy had been buried there. If there was someone in Beacon Hills going around putting people in holes, what was stopping them from snatching any of them?

Before she could suggest that they get a move on, she heard one of the boys dropping down into the hole. When she turned her attention into the dark abyss, she rolled her eyes. Oh yes, of course it would be Liam, he just seemed like the kind of guy who jumped right into things, literally.

"Are we not done here?" Charlie murmured and Mason shot her a sympathetic look. He had to be just as freaked out as she was, didn't he? Someone had buried Tracy in the forest and left her to claw her way out, that was terrifying, so why were the boys sticking around, giving whoever was burying people the opportunity to do it again.

"Just hang on." Liam countered from inside the hole. Charlie clamped her mouth shut so that she didn't say something she'd regret later. If this was going to help them figure out what the hell was going on, then she'd stick it out a little longer, she had to. She had a job to do, a duty to her own pack, and Sydney would be appreciative of her if she managed to get some decent information.

"Do _you_ see anything?" Mason questioned, his eyes never leaving Liam's body as the kid in the ground used his phone as a flashlight, searching the bottom of the hole for the leaf shaped necklace.

Liam did a few circles of the hole, running his hands through the dried leaves and Charlie silently prayed that he'd find _something_ soon. The longer she was out there, the more freaked out she got.

"Why isn't it here?" Liam said more to himself than anything.

"She probably came back for it." Brett pointed out. Logically that made sense but if she had been the one buried in the hole, there wasn't anything in the world that would give her the desire to go back, not a necklace, not anything, no matter how important it might've been.

Liam jumped out of the hole with such finesse that Charlie found herself rather impressed at how fluidly his movements were. He tossed the hood of his sweater over his shoulder and locked his eyes on them, hesitating on Charlie to see if he could gage her emotions. She tilted her head to the side, egging him on because he clearly had something more to say, she knew just by the look on his face.

"I don't think this is the one." Liam confessed and the other two boys looked back down into the dark abyss.

"What do you mean?" Mason shot back.

"It was closer to the bridge, much closer." Liam exclaimed and Charlie found herself agreeing with him. She looked around at their surroundings, none of it seemed very familiar to her and she had been right there with Liam the night he had fallen in the hole.

"I think it was wider too." Charlie added and Liam looked at her, giving her a small nod of appreciation. "It was closer to a tree, wasn't it?"

"I think so." Liam said. "This is a different hole."

"Then who crawled out of this one?" Mason asked and Charlie shivered at the thought.

As if one hole where someone had been buried wasn't bad enough, now there was another hole somewhere else, and who knew how many more there were littering the forest floor. She crossed her arms over her chest, sucked in a breath and tried to remain calm. Whatever was going on in Beacon Hills was really starting to freak her out.

Maybe she hadn't overestimated the stories that Sydney had told her after all.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie was exhausted when she walked into the front door of Sydney's house, but sleep wasn't going to be easy to come by, not with Bruin's shrill screaming echoing through the house. Bypassing the living room, Charlie headed right for the kitchen, locating the source of all the noise.

Bruin was in Sydney's arms being gently rocked back and forth and the frazzled look on her alpha's face rendered Charlie speechless. In the few weeks that Bruin had been a part of their world, she hadn't been known to scream this bad, which had to mean that something wasn't right, something was affecting the baby in Sydney's arms.

"Hey Charlie." Sydney let out a frustrated sigh as soon as she spotted her beta. Aidan and Ethan were nowhere to be seen but she could hear them, most likely in the basement trying to get away from the ear piercing cries of baby Bruin. "I put your dinner in the fridge."

"Uh, yeah, okay, thanks." Charlie replied, unsure of how to approach the situation. On one hand, she was a little concerned about Bruin's wailing and she wasn't aware of what was going on. On the other hand, Sydney seemed to be speaking to her like this whole ordeal was just a run-of-the-mill incident involving a crying baby.

"Sorry about the noise." Sydney tried to tease but when Bruin let out an especially loud, ear drum rumbling scream, Sydney winced and turned her back to Charlie, shushing her baby in an attempt to get her to calm down. Charlie listened as Sydney murmured sweet little reassurances to Bruin and a smile crossed her lips.

"How long as she been like that?" Charlie asked, her voice louder than usual so that she was sure Sydney heard her over the screaming.

"Uh, half an hour maybe." Sydney replied and glanced over her shoulder, which is when Charlie noticed that her eyes were glowing red. Was she trying to get Bruin to submit to her? Was she using her alpha status as a tool to get the baby to stop crying? Charlie was both impressed by her innovative touch but also still a little concerned; babies didn't recognize pack hierarchy, did they?

Well, if they did, Bruin was certainly at the top of the chain of command.

"How come the twins aren't trying to help you?" Charlie pressed, hoping that her alpha was still willing to converse with her. If she had been the one in Sydney's position, she would've been a lot more frustrated and more prone to blowing up at other people around her, so keeping that in mind, Charlie didn't want to push her luck too much.

"I told them that I got this." Sydney turned around and faced Charlie, readjusting her hold on Bruin so that her head was on shoulder, then she began gently patting the baby's back. "She's _my_ baby, I can handle her on my own, or so I'd like to think."

"To be fair, it's not like her dad's around to help." Charlie pointed out with a smirk and Sydney shook her head, a hint of a smile on her face as well.

"Yeah, his loss right." Sydney teased right back and tipped her head to the side, pressing a kiss against the top of Bruin's head, but her lips lingered there. Charlie watched as the veins in the little girl's head turned a dark colour and then flowed into Sydney's body, the woman literally attempting to 'kiss it better'.

At Sydney's motion of drawing out the baby's pain, Bruin's cries lessened the slightest little bit, apparently whatever was bothering her had been some sort of physical pain and not the usual hunger or thirst pains.

"Do that again." Charlie egged her on and Sydney nodded her head in understanding. This time, instead of drawing out her pain via a kiss, Sydney slipped her finger into Bruin's hold and drew her pain out that way, the baby's cries nearly came to a stop, small whimpers sounding out from the girl instead of ear piercing shrieks.

"Is that cheating?" Sydney asked with a relieved smile as Bruin began cooing. "Did I just cheat at being a mom?"

"I don't think so." Charlie shook her head. "I think we can call that 'being innovative'. You used the advantages that you had."

As the baby in her arms slowly shut her eyes and began drifting off to sleep, Sydney carefully stepped closer to Charlie and proceeded to motion towards the table, where the two of them promptly sat down. Charlie simply watched Sydney with her baby and found herself wondering if this is how it would always be.

She knew that Sydney had faith that one day the girl's father would come back to her but at the same time, she had already spent months without him by her side. Charlie didn't know all that much about Eichen House, but she knew why Peter was locked inside, and part of her didn't figure that the people running the place were just going to let the man waltz out the front doors, not without some sort of protective measures in place.

Did that mean that the Peter that came out, if he came out at all, was going to be the _same_ Peter that went in? Charlie had her concerns but she wasn't going to voice them, not when Sydney needed to cling to the hope that one day he'd be right there with her, the two of them raising Bruin together.

"How was your evening?" Sydney asked and looked right at Charlie, who was still thinking about Bruin's father.

"Freaky actually. We went back to the forest and found _another_ hole, a different one from the one that Liam fell in the other night." Charlie explained.

"There's more than one giant hole? Jesus, who has time to dig more than one giant hole, you know what, that's not even my biggest concern, my biggest concern is how would someone dig more than one giant hole without being seen. That'd have to take forever, right?"

"I don't know." Charlie shrugged in response. "But we came up with a theory."

"Alright, lay it on me." Sydney waved her one hand at Charlie, motioning for her to keep talking.

"Well, Liam figured that Tracy was in the hole at _some_ point because he saw her necklace in the one he fell in, so when we went to go see if we could find her necklace, things got a little creepy. After Mason fell in and we got him out, he sort of theorized, with Brett's help, that whoever had crawled out of there was _in the hole_ , like a trap right?" Charlie explained and Sydney just stared at her with a look of total confusion on her face. "Weird, huh?"

"Very much so." Sydney replied hesitantly. "So you guys think that there's someone out there putting people in holes in the middle of the forest?"

"Yes." Charlie nodded her head confidently. "Cool right?"

"Cool? Uh, sure." Sydney said hesitantly. "Someone's really putting people in giant holes in the middle of the forest?"

"We think so." Charlie shot back nonchalantly. "Have I told you how much I love being in Beacon Hills lately?"

Sydney's eyes widened at Charlie's admission and she shook her head, trying to figure out how she felt about all this. It was the first time that Sydney had allowed Charlie to go off on her own, without Ethan acting as her shadow, and now the girl was explaining that her and the boys she had gone exploring with had a theory that there was someone leaving people in giant holes in the forest. How did that not scare Charlie as much as it scared her?

If something had happened to them out in the forest, then Sydney would've felt awful, she would have been devastated, and all because she had let Charlie go off gallivanting without someone there to watch over her.

"I don't think you should be going out by yourself again." Sydney said in a low voice.

"Wait, why not? Nothing happened to me."

"Well-"

"If I promise to call you all the time that I'm by myself, will you let me go out without a shadow still?" Charlie was pleading and Sydney sucked in a breath, contemplating what she _could_ do.

Charlie was her responsibility, Sydney was well aware of that, and she wasn't as familiar with Beacon Hills, or the weird goings on, as her, or the twins, but she had a point. Nothing happened to her, not yet anyways, but it was lingering threat in the 'not yet' that had Sydney concerned. She could let Charlie off without a shadow for now, but if something happened to rattle Sydney even the slightest little bit, then it was right back to having a stalker in the form of Ethan.

"You call me every hour on the hour or I send out a search party." Sydney countered.

"Fine."

"And if you're going anywhere other than where you're supposed to be, you let me or the twins know."

"Sounds good."

"Okay and I want you in this house by eleven and not a second later." Sydney doled out more conditions. "I also want to know _who_ you're with when you're not at school."

"Okay _mom_." Charlie grinned at her alpha and Sydney rolled her eyes at the name calling. "I swear, I will follow and respect your rules."

"Good." Sydney muttered and then perked up at one last condition. "And if anything, and I do mean _anything_ makes me feel the slightest bit uncomfortable, you will have a tail on you so fast-"

"Understandable. Thanks Syd." Charlie leaned forward and smiled at her. "You really are the best, well aside from my dad."

"Okay." Sydney bowed her head and took in the sight of a slumbering Bruin who was lying against her chest, her head on Sydney's shoulder. "I don't want anything to happen to you, or anyone for that matter."

"I know." Charlie murmured and realized how serious all this was to Sydney. Sure to her it was an adventure but Sydney was a veteran when it came to stuff like this, she knew the consequences, she'd seen what could happen, and maybe she had a point. Charlie _didn't_ really know what to expect, so the least she could do was respect her alpha's rules, after all, they were merely put in place to protect her.

"All that aside, did you at least have a little bit of fun?" Sydney asked with a sparkle in her eye, clearly itching to get herself out and involved in whatever it was that was going on.

"Yes!" Charlie fired back with an enthusiastic smile. "Mason is just the most adorable guy ever, and Liam, he's funny, oh and Brett, well he's just nice on the eyes."

"Yeah, well, he's someone that you should respect too." Sydney stated and smiled at her. "His alpha's been around forever, she's…well she's just someone that you shouldn't mess with."

"Is that why you wanted to talk to him privately? You wanted to ask about his alpha?" Charlie questioned and tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

Sydney sucked in a breath and shook her head no, "there's a little girl in Satomi's pack that I know, her name's Sam."

"How do you know her?" Charlie leaned forward and lowered her voice, but the wonder was still in her tone.

"I saved her from being left in a closet when the hospital was being evacuated a long time ago. Then after that, I took her in for a few days so that she wasn't in any direct danger from the dead pool I told you about. She's…well Sam's a little special to me and I just wanted to see how she was doing." Sydney explained and peered down at Bruin, pressing another kiss against the top of the baby's head.

"And how _is_ she doing?" Charlie asked.

"Brett said that she was fine, Satomi's having a little trouble- see, Sam doesn't have any parents left."

"Oh, like you?"

"Yeah, a little, but at least she has pack. Brett told me that it was pretty clear that Sam missed her mom, so I told him that if Satomi ever needed me for anything that she could contact me. I just…there's something about Sam, something there that I can't seem to let go of."

Charlie leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, "motherly instinct maybe. It's good that you care about her."

"I guess." Sydney let out a soft sigh and gently shook her head. "Anyways, your dinner's in the fridge, maybe you could relay what you know to the twins so they're on the same page?"

"Will do."

Without another word shared between them, Sydney stood up, carefully readjusting Bruin in her hold, and headed for the stairs. Charlie watched her go, wondering how much longer Sydney was going to pretend that it didn't bother her to not have Bruin's father around.

It had to be grating on her, plus there was all the withdrawal symptoms she was dealing with. No, Charlie definitely didn't envy Sydney at all.

She did hope that she'd be okay though, Sydney was a strong alpha and Charlie wanted nothing more than to see her succeed, after all, if she didn't, that meant that her betas, which included Charlie, wouldn't end up in a very good position.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Thank you to those of you that are hanging in there. I'm trying to update a little more frequently so that you get more content faster but I'd still love to hear from you guys._**

 ** _Special thanks to WickedlyMinx and poorxbrokexcollegexkid for their reviews_**

 ** _Guest: Okay, I swear that Sydney meeting up with other pack members is coming. She'll totally be on Stiles' side and she won't exactly like the way that Scott first reacts to Theo. As for Stiles killing Donovan, well there's a lot of Sydney and Stiles interacting after Donovan's body disappears..._**


	22. Chapter 22

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 22** **:**_

"Hey Mason?" Charlie's voice came out a little shakier than she would've liked but she figured that, aside from Sydney, he seemed like one of the better people to ask for love advice.

The kid was growing on her, she already adored him to pieces and the one thing that they had in common was that they could both appreciate an attractive guy, which is precisely why she wanted to talk to him about Isaac Lahey, her online friend, who she wanted to be more than friends with, all the way over in France.

"What is it?" Mason asked, glancing back at her, pausing as he waited for her to catch up to them. She had fallen slightly behind him and Liam as the trio trudged closer and closer to the building where the club was located in, but she was a werewolf, she could smell them, and track them if need be, which meant she wasn't worried about losing them at all. When she closed the distance between them and fell in stride next to Mason, Liam with his attention glued to his phone, she gave him a gentle nudge with her elbow.

"I just…I need some advice, or something." Charlie sighed, realizing she sounded like a total idiot. She _did_ need advice but she wasn't entirely sure what she needed advice for, not yet at least.

"Right, uh, okay, what's up?" Mason countered and she knew that he was trying to be understanding, even though she had no idea what she was even talking about.

"So there's this guy that I like right and I want to go out with him-"

"Okay, so just ask him to a movie." Mason offered with a shrug.

"Well," she hesitated and dug her phone out of her pocket, pulling it up and searching for Isaac's picture, "the thing is, he's in France, so it's not like I can just waltz up to him and ask him to a movie."

"And you can't just up and go to France either." Mason tossed in with a knowing smile. "How well do you know him?"

"We talk every day either on the phone or through texts." Charlie stated. "Syd sort of knows him too, he used to live here actually, in Beacon Hills. Isaac Lahey."

"Oh, wow, small world huh." Mason nodded his head at her. "So you're pretty confident that he is who he says he is and not just some old fat guy trying to bait little girls-"

"No, I'm pretty confident that he's who he's supposed to be." Charlie cut him off with an eye roll. "Stiles knew him when he was here, so did most of the pack."

"Okay, so then not knowing him isn't the problem, it's _actually_ the distance this time. Has he considered a visit, I mean, maybe one of you could visit the other, is that something that's possible?" Mason questioned and shot Charlie a reassuring look. He seemed determined to solve her problem, but Charlie still wasn't entirely sure what her problem specifically was.

"It's come up before but we just sort of brush it off as a joke. I don't know if he feels the same way about me as I do about him and then there's the whole issue of me potentially finding someone here that I like as much, if not more, what do I do if that happens?"

Mason reached over and gave her arm a reassuring pat before he shook his head. She watched him carefully but stole a quick look at Liam, who was still looking at his phone yet again, then she turned her attention right back to Mason, hoping that he'd be able to help her before the whole thing drove her crazy.

It was very possible that she could find someone in Beacon Hills or Colorado that she liked but would they be able to hold a candle to Isaac? If she ever had the chance to hang out with Isaac in person, would she quickly find out that she had liked the idea of them more than the actual 'them'? Should she hold out hope for something that might never happen and ignore all the possibilities that were right in front of her?

"Seems to me that you've got it real bad. You really like this guy?" Mason looked at her, his eyes meeting hers.

"I do." Charlie nodded.

"Have you told him?"

She shook her head and made a move to open her mouth but Liam let out a growl and interrupted her. Mason rolled his eyes at his friend but looked at Charlie, waiting for her to say what she needed to say.

"What if I tell him and he doesn't feel that way about me?" She countered, her voice low and laced with uneasiness.

"I think what you need, especially tonight, is a distraction." Mason chuckled and slipped an arm around her shoulders, leading her along as they approached a chain link fence. She smiled over at him and relaxed for the time being, maybe he had a point, maybe she could find a distraction for the night. There was no sense letting a perfectly good opportunity at a secret club go to waste, was there?

"Brett's pretty good on the eyes." Charlie pointed out and Mason gave her a knowing look, a look that just screamed his agreement. Liam caught what they had said and shot them both a glare but quickly reasserted his attention back to his phone.

"Can you put your phone away for five minutes?" Mason asked and Charlie slipped out of his grasp. "Scott can howl if he needs you."

"I just feel like I should be doing something." Liam countered and Charlie found herself wondering if this is what she should be doing. Instead of enjoying a Friday night out with Liam and Mason, should she have been with Sydney, or at the very least checking her phone in case Sydney needed her? Was this what a beta was supposed to do?

At the thought of Sydney sitting in the living room with Bruin in her arms, she let out a contented sigh. The twins were with her at the house, they'd be right there to protect her and Bruin if something came up, plus Sydney had told Charlie to go out and have fun. Maybe Liam was just taking his beta duty too seriously, or maybe he felt like he was in more danger than Charlie did, but then again, Charlie's pack wasn't a pack that anyone should want to mess with.

In her eyes, Sydney was a better alpha than Scott, and the twins were a little more menacing than Scott's rag tag bunch of misfit supernatural creatures, so in her head, she had the upper hand, right? Plus Sydney and the twins had trained her, they had all sparred together for months, and when Sydney got too big to fight, she'd sit down with Charlie and teach her the tricks of the trade.

Charlie had never actually tried it yet but she was fairly confident that if she ever had to, she could probably sink her claws into the back of someone's neck in order to see what they had seen. Oh yes, there was no slacking off in Sydney's pack, and maybe that was why she had been so accepting of letting Charlie have a night to herself, a night where she had the opportunity to go out and have a good time with Mason and Liam.

"You are," Mason shot back, "You're my wingman tonight and considering the state of my dating life, I need a wingman, co-pilot and a really hot flight attendant."

"I'm definitely not your hot flight attendant." Liam muttered.

"I'll be your hot flight attendant." Charlie broke in with a smirk.

"Right, well okay, yeah I see Liam's point though, choices _are_ limited, but at least here, you can get drunk." Mason pointed out with a grin so big that it looked like his cheeks were going to burst from the pressure.

Mason led the way up the few steps and Charlie fell in stride behind him, Liam coming up the rear. When the three of them were standing on a platform outside of a large metal door, she brought her arms up and crossed them over her chest, wondering if this was really a good idea still.

When the door opened, Charlie knew that she wasn't going to turn back. Even if part of her wasn't totally comfortable with the idea of going in and leaving Sydney at home, she also didn't want to head back to the house on her own and Mason and Liam weren't leaving this place any time soon.

The girl that opened the door looked at the three of them and when she noticed Liam standing just behind Mason, she rolled her eyes and scowled.

"I said I'd let you in. Not him." She snarled and Charlie turned her head to look at Liam too. She didn't understand why anyone wouldn't like him, to her he was an adorable little puppy, so what _had_ he done to this girl? "And what about her?"

"You said I could have a plus one." Mason pointed out. "And she's with us too."

" _She_ can come in but I didn't say plus Liam." She fired back and Charlie made a move to step forward, to try and diffuse the situation but before she could get in front, Liam piped up.

"I'm his flight attendant." Liam announced.

"What?" The girl narrowed her eyes in on Liam, clearly confused by his proclamation. If Charlie wasn't aware of the tension between them, she might've been inclined to make a joke.

"Wingman. Forget it, I don't have to go in." Liam turned to the side and made a move to head back down the stairs but Mason settled his hands on his shoulders, keeping his friend from getting too far away.

"No, you're coming." Mason "Okay. How about me, her and him plus fifty?"

Charlie was rather shocked at how nonchalant Mason had been about pulling out a fifty dollar bill, but then again, she knew he was looking for someone special, maybe love even, and if she was in his position, she knew that she'd be willing to spend a little extra too, especially if she knew someone like Isaac Lahey was tucked away inside.

The girl nabbed the money from Mason's hand and stepped off to the side and waved them forward, "Welcome to Sinema."

As Mason and Liam led the way, Charlie paused and tossed the girl a polite smile, the girl giving her an acknowledging nod in response.

Heading further into the club, Charlie felt her body begin to move to the infectious beat and when they rounded a corner and passed under a curtain of beads, her eyes lit up at the sight. There were sculpted bodies dancing in cages, half naked men flaunting themselves to anyone who would look, and of course there was the lingering smell of alcohol. Whatever qualms she had about leaving her alpha at home on a Friday had disappeared when she made eye contact with one of the most beautiful men she'd ever seen.

"We don't look old enough to be here." Liam remarked, pulling Charlie out of her mini reverie. She glanced around and gave him a shrug, as if to say 'who cares'. She wanted to explore further, she wanted to see what the place had to offer but she knew she was going to stick with Mason and Liam, if for no other reason than to make sure that everyone was safe.

"Neither does he." Mason pointed out, motioning towards a familiar face.

Charlie leaned forward, resting her palm on Mason's shoulder as she eyed up Brett, who was dancing rather provocatively with a girl.

"Man I wish I was her." Charlie murmured and Mason threw a smile to the side and Charlie shook her head, not totally believing that she had actually said that out loud.

"So is this club mixed?" Liam asked, his voice louder than usual to be heard over the loud, infectious beat buzzing through the building. Charlie kept her eyes on Brett though and when he stepped away from the girl and cozied up with a guy, she felt herself wondering if she realistically stood a chance with him.

"Ish." Mason replied with a nod of his head. Charlie reached down and latched her hand onto his, then she surged forward, pulling him along behind her.

She headed right for Brett and when she was close enough to be in his line of sight, he turned towards them and shot them all a casual smile. Charlie stepped up onto the platform with him, wedging herself between him and the other guy, then she hauled Mason up next to her and grinned at Brett.

"Fancy meeting you here." Charlie hollered and lifted her hands into the air, her body swaying to the beat. When Brett's hands came down on her hips, she turned around and let him dance with her, just like he had been doing with the other girl.

She looked out into the rest of the club and spotted Liam standing awkwardly near one of the dance cages. Huh well, if he wasn't going to get up with them and have fun dancing, then it was his loss, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to be keeping an eye on him. Once she was certain that he was within hearing distance, she focused back on the pressure on her hips, which moved back and forth, Brett moving from her to Mason, dancing with them both.

It was when the beat changed tempo a few minutes later that Brett hopped down off the platform and motioned towards Charlie and Mason to follow suit. She hopped down and slipped her arm around his, Mason following them as he led them over to a booth.

"You're going to let him linger over there on his own?" Brett asked with a wave in Liam's direction. Charlie watched him for a few seconds and determined that Liam could handle himself in the club, especially if she was right nearby, with Brett there too.

"He's fine." Mason waved off the question and the three of them settled into the booth, Brett lifting his hand up and waving at the bar. Charlie took a chance to look around and study the people in the club with them. She could still see Liam though and knowing that he was right there within her sight was comforting enough. She wanted to stick with the people she knew and at that moment it was Brett, Mason and Liam.

The three boys, together, seemed like a competent group and maybe she'd even get to have some fun with Brett, if she played her cards right.

When a tray of shot glasses was set on the table, Charlie looked at the alcohol, then over at Brett and Mason. Mason gave her an encouraging nod but she shook her head politely, not wanting to drink for fear of what might happen when she got home. If Sydney smelled alcohol on her, well she didn't know what she'd do but she didn't believe it would be something Sydney condoned.

"This your first time here?" Brett asked loudly and looked between Mason and her.

"It is." Charlie nodded and he looked at her, waiting for her to go on. "I'm actually new to Beacon Hills all together. Syd's got a place in Colorado and when she showed up there a little less than a year ago, we sort of met and hit it off."

"Oh, so you're not even from California?" Brett questioned with a small smile. "Do you like it here?"

"It's definitely different from Colorado but yeah, it's nice here, aside from all the weird things happening."

"Like the giant holes in the forest." Mason supplied and Charlie gave him a nod.

"Yes, exactly like that." She added quickly and stole another glance at Liam, who had a confused look on his face. She watched him for a few seconds, barely listening to Mason and Brett talking and when Liam made a beeline for the table where they were sitting, she straightened up in the booth, anticipating his arrival.

"Guys, I think there's something else here." Liam hissed as he leaned against the edge of the table. Mason just stared at his friend, clearly wondering what had prompted him to raise the alarm when it wasn't all that uncommon for supernatural creatures to be in the area around them. "Seriously, I'm not kidding."

"Okay." Charlie dragged the word out but maneuvered to the end of the seat, sliding right out of the booth before waving Brett forward. She knew that if they were going to figure out who, or what, was in the club with them, that they were going to need all the help they could get and Brett was a born werewolf, which meant he was as close to perfect for the job as they were going to get.

"Can you remember where you were when you saw them?" Brett pressed and came out of the booth behind Charlie. Mason made an attempt to follow suit but when he was off the seat, he looked over to the side and shook his head.

"We got this, you can stay here and watch." Charlie offered with a reassuring smile, after all, Mason was still human, if this was going to involve the supernatural, then maybe it'd be safer for him to stay back and observe.

Liam led the way and he pushed through the crowd, leading Charlie and Brett over towards one of the metal dance cages where the guy inside was wearing nothing more than his underwear, tight fitting, hip hugging underwear. It wasn't until Liam gave Charlie a firm pat on the back that she tore her eyes off of the near perfect specimen of a human being and focused her attention back on the task at hand.

Brett watched for a few minutes, his head turning this way and that, as he tried to get a feel for anything other than humans in the building. Charlie subtly took a deep inhale and tried to sniff out any foreign scents, when nothing pinged on her radar, she turned around and repeated the process.

"No, I didn't catch anything." Brett stated and Charlie finished smelling the other side of the room. There wasn't anything that she could smell either but that didn't mean Liam was completely wrong, did it?

He was still fairly new to the werewolf lifestyle and maybe he wasn't aware of certain things, but after the past couple nights spent with him out in the forest, she wasn't about to brush off his concerns. If something seemed to be bothering Liam, then it was worth taking seriously, at least until they proved that there was nothing for him to worry about.

"No one else in here's like us?" Liam countered and she shook her head, offering him a shrug too.

"Not that I can smell." Charlie said.

"I don't know, dude. Maybe, it's Beacon Hills, what's the difference?" Brett brushed him off and Charlie set her hand on Liam's shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"It felt different." Liam shot back defensively.

"Maybe if there was someone here like us, they left, right? Maybe they went home." Charlie suggested but Liam shook his head at her. Okay, Liam wasn't playing around and he wasn't backing down from this.

"What do you mean?" Brett narrowed his eyes in on Liam.

"Different how?" Charlie pressed. She had heard all about Tracy and her little Kanima adventure, maybe there were others like her lingering around the town, maybe there was something even more sinister. Whatever was bothering Liam though, Charlie didn't like it, not one bit.

"It felt off. It felt wrong." Liam turned his attention to the left, and then to the right, clearly he was still looking for the source of his discomfort.

"Just, I don't know, try not to worry about it, we can institute the buddy system, if that'd help. I can be Brett's buddy and you can be Mason's." Charlie offered with a smile and stole a look at Brett who merely stared at her in response. "Try to have a good time then, for Mason?"

Liam turned his attention back to the table that Mason had been left at. He took in the sight of his best friend sitting there talking to someone and gave Charlie a nod of understanding. If he was going to be here, he'd try to have a good time, after all, Mason was the one who had wanted to come, Mason was the one looking for some fun, it was the least Liam could do.

"Alright." Liam caved in and lifted his hands into the air in a gesture of surrender. Charlie gave him a gentle pat on the back and let a smile cross her lips.

"You're a good friend." She remarked but nearly jumped out of her skin as Mason came up behind her, poking her in the back unexpectedly.

She gaped at him and he wandered over to stand beside Brett, waiting for him to give him the attention he wanted. When Brett turned towards Mason, Charlie took a step closer and lifted her hand up to rest against Brett's arm. She stopped before she made contact though and retracted her palm, settling it against her hip instead.

"Hey, uh, do you see that guy?" Mason questioned as he leaned in closer to Brett, even going as far as to subtly wave over towards the wall. "He keeps looking over here. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, that's Lucas." Brett answered and Charlie followed the direction of where they were looking, her eyes landing on the guy in question.

"He's cute," Charlie said, "if you like the strong jawline, mysterious eyes and-"

"He's got it." Liam cut in and nudged her in the ribs, silencing her in the middle of her sentence.

"Maybe you could uh, introduce us?" Mason questioned, still focusing on Brett.

"Yeah, no problem."

Liam let out a low growl as Brett led Mason away and Charlie lifted her hand up, pinching the back of his neck in an attempt to calm him down, or at the very least to keep him from attacking the guy checking out his best friend. Liam turned around and glared at her, his eyes flashing gold in the process, but she merely scoffed at his attempts at intimidation and slipped an arm over his shoulder.

"If you love them, let them go." Charlie sighed dramatically in Liam's ear and he shook his head at her before shrugging out of her hold. "Okay, geez, maybe you can tell me what happened between you and the girl at the door then instead?"

"No thanks." Liam grumbled and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Well do you at least want to go grab a drink?" She offered and waved her hand in the direction of the bar.

"I gave all my money to-"

"Okay fine, let me buy you a drink then?" She pressed, hoping that he'd give in to her offer, at least if she could get Liam to the bar, then maybe she could get him calmed down a little bit. After all, Mason seemed to be in good hands, Brett knew this Lucas guy, which had to count for something, right?

By the time that Charlie had managed to get a drink in Liam, he seemed to have chilled out just a little bit. She hadn't bought herself a drink though, she was sticking to non-alcoholic beverages for fear of what Sydney might do or say if she found out. She didn't want to get herself in trouble, she didn't want to disappoint her alpha, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to have fun still. The beats were still rocking and the club was moving, Charlie was right where she wanted to be on a Friday night, all of her pack guilt had been wiped away for the time being.

"Do you see Mason?" Liam asked from his stance beside her and Charlie whipped her head over to look at him.

"Uh, no."

"What about Brett?"

Charlie paused and looked around the club, her eyes almost immediately falling on Brett, "yeah, he's right there, heading for-"

She didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence before Liam took off in a jog towards where Brett was standing. Charlie let out a groan and made a move to follow him, but when she saw Brett disappear behind yet another curtain of beads, she wondered what the hell was happening. He hadn't been with anybody before going into the room, so what was the purpose.

Liam stopped in front of her and she just barely hopped to the side to avoid a collision, but she was too worried at this point, there was no turning back. She wanted to get to Brett, she'd feel better if she could just get to Brett.

Surging through the bead curtain, she skidded to a halt, Liam coming through next to her and freezing too. The two of them watched in awe as a shifted Brett fought against the guy that had been eying up Mason earlier, except now he had spikes protruding from the backs of his arms, and down the back of his spine.

"What the hell is that?" Charlie screamed and made a move to jump in and help Brett but the monster spun around, keeping her in place with just a look. She barely had a chance to spot them but his eyes were completely black, no trace of the whites or irises at all.

Lucas, or whatever the hell Lucas was, wrapped his hand around Brett's throat and backed him up into a steel column, knocking the breath out of Brett with the impact. Charlie let her hands drop down to her sides and she forced her claws out, feeling the sharp nails breaking through her skin and coming to surface while the canine teeth in her mouth grew longer and turned into razor sharp weapons. She felt her eyes flashing gold too and with a deep inhale of breath, she launched herself forward and made an attempt to help Brett get the upper hand.

Brett's knee came up and connected with Lucas, driving him backwards and freeing his neck from the creature's grasp. Charlie fell in behind Brett and prepared herself to support him but when Lucas sent Brett rearing back into the metal support, Charlie barely had enough time to get out of the way, jumping to the side and listening to the sickening sound as Brett collided with the metal yet again.

She lurched towards him and her eyes widened as one of the razor sharp protrusions near Lucas' elbow cut into Brett's chest, slicing through his t-shirt and skin and causing blood to erupt from the wound.

She got to him just in time to keep him from completely collapsing to the floor and as she covered him, she draped her body over his back in an attempt to protect him. When Lucas raised his arms up into the air and let out a ferocious roar, she lifted her leg up and kicked at him, connecting with his gut at the same time that Liam came barreling out of the shadows, tackling Lucas in a way that would make any NFL linebacker proud.

"You okay?" Charlie asked as she relaxed across Brett's back, then she rolled off of him and squatted down next to him. She glanced over at Liam, who had his back against the nearby table, with Lucas hovering over top of him.

"I think- right now, yes."

She nodded at him and rose up to her full height, her eyes locking on Lucas. She let out a low growl and took a step towards the creature who was wrestling with Liam, but when Scott and Kira exploded through the beads, she fell back and let Scott take the lead with the hopes that he knew more about what was happening than the rest of them, after all, that was an alpha's job, part of it anyways.

"You're a little late!" Liam forced the words out and continued to hold off Lucas' attempts at hurting him.

That was all Scott needed though and without hesitating for a second, he leapt towards them, trying to get to his beta's aid. Charlie turned her attention back to Brett and gave him a once over. She noticed the festering wound on his chest but that seemed to be it.

"You sure you're okay?" She asked in a lower tone.

"Alive." He countered and she tipped her head to the side, well, that was a good point, at least he was still alive, for now.

Charlie turned back towards the fight just in time to see Liam level a wrestling-like take down on Lucas, dropping him to the floor with a huge impact that she felt from her spot next to Brett.

Lucas seemed to stop fighting though and suddenly there was an eerie orange glow in the room, which surrounded Kira. Charlie leaned against Brett and pressed against his chest, trying to stop the bleeding, while at the same time watching the kitsune nearby. Mason came up behind her and took over for her, pressing hard against Brett's chest and freeing her up to fight, if they needed her too.

"What the hell is that thing?" Brett asked in a pained voice and Charlie rose up, still watching Kira as she kept glowing, an orange foxlike aura surrounding her.

She lifted her sword up into the air, the orange glow lingering, and when she went to bring the blade down onto Lucas, Scott reached out just in time, grabbing her wrist and stopping her from slicing into the guy lying nearly motionless on the ground.

The room fell absolutely, completely silent and everyone seemed to be watching, waiting for Lucas to make another move. When he didn't though, Charlie relaxed slightly and let her body shift back to human, anyone else left shifted following her lead.

"Is everyone okay?" Scott called out and looked around the room, surveying the damage. "We need to get him out of here. Liam, give me a hand."

Liam rushed forward and positioned himself at Lucas' feet, grabbing hold of his ankles while Scott took hold of his wrists. Charlie stood frozen in place but looked down at the still bleeding Brett who was currently being attended to by Mason.

"You sure you're good? Both of you?" Charlie asked in a hushed tone. Mason nodded his head yes and Brett just looked at Lucas. Okay well, they'd figure out how to fix him up later but right now, Scott had a point, they needed to get Lucas out of there.

Apparently someone else had a different idea because when Scott and Liam lifted Lucas a few inches off the ground, a whistling sound filled the room and an arrow pierced Lucas' chest, causing his body to jerk from the impact. Liam and Scott dropped the body and an eerie winding noise took over as the arrow retracted upwards. When Charlie followed the path of the trajectory, she locked her eyes on three figures, all decked out in metal masks.

"The hell?" She murmured and shrunk down, trying to keep herself small while not drawing attention to herself. This wasn't something she wanted to tangle with, these three figures were creepy and she didn't know what they were capable of. Right now, she was going to focus on staying alive and getting back home, where Sydney would keep her safe and protect her.

"Why did you do that?" Scott demanded though, apparently he wasn't as scared of the figures as she was. Oh well, that wasn't going to change her tune about them.

"His condition was terminal." One of the _things_ replied, the voice mechanical and buzzing. As if the figures weren't creepy enough without speaking, now they were nothing short of terrifying.

"What does that mean?" Scott asked, the three of them turning to the side and beginning to walk away. "What does that mean!?"

The one that had spoken to start with stopped moving and turned to face Scott, "failure."

Charlie tensed at the sight of bright white sparks exploding from the ceiling and when they cleared up seconds later, the figures were gone, they had simply disappeared. She glanced back down at Brett and sucked in a breath.

If Sydney hadn't been worried about her before, she'd certainly be worried now, especially once Charlie told her all about what happened at the club. Charlie was prepared to beg her to put Ethan back as her shadow. If those three figures were any indication of what the rest of her time in Beacon Hills was going to be like, then maybe she'd have to seriously consider homeschooling.

Her good time at the club with Mason, Liam and Brett had turned into a nightmare, one that Charlie was desperate to wake up from.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**


	23. Chapter 23

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 23** **:**_

The house was quiet, almost too quiet, by the time Charlie wandered inside. She had been expecting a bigger greeting when she walked into the kitchen but the only person she found there was Ethan, who was sitting at the table, a mug of something steaming in front of him while the local newspaper was spread out over the surface. Apparently he had had a nice, relaxing night at home while she was at the club fighting off a weird supernatural creature that had then been shot dead by three creepy steampunk-looking figures.

She stepped across the floor and gently lowered herself into one of the vacant chairs, which is precisely when Ethan tore his eyes off of the paper and looked at her with a small smirk on his face.

"Did you have fun?" He asked in a low tone and widened his eyes slightly, hoping that she'd tell him all about it.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." She shrugged and he furrowed his eyebrows in response.

This was clearly not the reaction that he was hoping to get from her, but Charlie was rattled, rightly so. The kid that Mason had headed into the back room with had turned out to be some unfamiliar creature that had then decided to attack them. She wasn't sure what would've happened if Brett hadn't been there to pull the kid off of Mason to start with, but she knew that it easily could've ended with a fatality or more.

"You okay?" Ethan pressed and studied her form. She glanced at him and felt herself smile when he took a whiff of the air around her. She knew that he was trying to gage her emotional state and even if he wasn't a seasoned werewolf, she figured that he'd be able to figure out, pretty quickly, that she was scared of what she had just experienced.

Sydney had made sure that she was trained well enough to handle some things on her own, but Lucas was something that she had never seen before. Even if Lucas was the only mystery of the night, that would've been enough to leave anyone shaking in their boots but then the three eerie figures had appeared and terrified her to the bones.

"I don't know." Charlie confessed, breathing the words out. "Stuff went down tonight and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I do know that it was pretty scary."

"Like what?" Ethan questioned and gave her an encouraging nod. He was pack after all and she trusted him. Maybe he'd even tell her that she had nothing to worry about, that this was all something he'd experienced before.

"Well there was this guy that kept looking at Mason right and so Brett went to introduce him because apparently Brett knew who this guy was-"

"Does this other guy have a name?"

"Lucas. His name was Lucas." Charlie paused and Ethan just gave her a slight wave, signaling that he was following. "So Brett introduces Mason to Lucas and they sort of start hanging out together and then Mason goes into another room _with_ Lucas and _that's_ when shit starts to go down."

"What kind of 'shit'?" Ethan's eyes were locked on Charlie, hoping that she'd let him know everything he needed. If something had spooked her enough for him to sense it just by being near her, then that meant it had to be something pretty serious, didn't it?

Charlie had been training with him, Aidan and Sydney for months, and the four of them had been working on collecting information for a bestiary of their own, surely Charlie would've been prepared to handle certain things in Beacon Hills without so much as a second thought. But this, whatever had happened to her tonight, was starting to sound less like something familiar and more like something off the charts.

"Brett notices something's not right and he goes into the room after Mason and Lucas, all of a sudden, he's shifted and Brett just like rips this Lucas kid off of Mason and throws him across the room." Charlie lifted her hands into the air for added effect. "Whatever the hell Lucas was, well, let's just say that it was brutal."

"What was he like?"

"What do you mean?" Charlie shot back, confused by his question.

"Was there anything about Lucas that was obvious-"

"Oh, yeah, he had weird spiky things sticking out of him, like all down his spine, along the backs of his arms, and his eyes," she paused and let a shudder course through her body, "his eyes were completely black."

"That sounds sufficiently terrifying, Charlie, what the hell happened after that?"

"Okay so Brett gets cut after putting up a hell of a fight and then Liam joins in, tackling Lucas away, I shift and get in on the action too until _finally_ Scott shows up with Kira and the two of them sort of take the lead- Lucas was just lying on the floor, not moving, I didn't think he was dead but Scott said we had to get him out of there, then he got shot…"

"With a gun?" Ethan tilted his head to the side, a concerned look in his eyes.

"No, with like an arrow or something." Charlie mumbled and slouched down in the chair, shaking her head at the memories flooding through her mind.

"A hunter?" Ethan wasn't letting this go, not until he had all of the information. If there were hunters back in Beacon Hills, then that meant the pack had more to worry about than just supernatural creatures.

"Uh, no, I don't think so, not unless hunters are going around wearing metal masks on their faces dressed like steampunks." She countered and watched as Ethan knitted his eyebrows together. If he was confused just listening to what she had seen, then he was lucky that he hadn't been there; the real thing was much more terrifying than simply hearing about it.

"What?"

"Yeah, so I have no idea what I just experienced but it was _not_ the happy fun time at a night club that I was expecting."

Ethan pushed his chair back and stood up, moving to standing directly in front of Charlie. Without hesitating for a second, he leaned down and wrapped her up in a hug. Charlie resisted at first but this was way too good of an opportunity to pass up and within seconds, she reciprocated the gesture, even going as far as to bury her face in his shoulder and just let him hold her.

He hugged her for a little while longer and when she let out a small sigh, Ethan peeled away from her, giving her a gentle pat on her shoulder as he did so. Charlie sat straighter in the chair and looked at him, trying to figure out how to ask him what she so desperately craved.

After the events of the night, she wanted him to be her shadow again, she wanted someone who she trusted and knew was capable to follow her and protect her if something else happened to come up. She didn't want to deal with weird creatures like Lucas without him there to back her up, but she didn't want to ask him outright if he'd start following her again. She wanted to look strong, she wanted to _be_ strong and strong werewolves didn't have pack mates tailing them, did they?

"You should go and tell Syd what happened, maybe even let her see into your memories so she _knows_ what we're dealing with?" Ethan suggested and Charlie sucked in a breath. Maybe she could convince Sydney that she needed Ethan back as her stalker, if her alpha thought that Charlie was in danger, even for a second, then it was possible that she'd demand Charlie have Ethan with her at all times.

Sometimes she was grateful to have someone as overprotective as Sydney running the show.

"Where is she?" Charlie countered, knowing that if she really tried she could probably use her hearing or smell to locate her alpha, but sometimes it was just easier to ask.

"Her room, at least that's where she was the last I checked." Ethan answered with a shrug.

"Is she with Aidan?"

"Nope, he's outside, checking out the mountain ash perimeter and making sure it works." Ethan grinned. "He's trying to pull a Scott and break right through but that's a special skill that he doesn't have."

"I bet, but it'd be pretty entertaining to watch."

"Sure is, he keeps getting sent flying backwards." Ethan chuckled and gave Charlie an encouraging nod. "But hey, as long as he's keeping himself entertained, who am I to judge."

Charlie smiled right back at him and stood up, giving Ethan one last look before taking off for the stairs. She mounted them quickly and headed right for Sydney's room, when she was within a few feet of it, she focused her ears and listened, hearing her alpha right where she expected her to be. As soon as Charlie rounded the corner and walked into the room, she looked at the back of Sydney, who was leaning against her half open window, most likely watching Aidan as he attempted to make his way through the mountain ash barrier that Sydney had buried in the backyard.

Sydney didn't move as Charlie approached but there was no way that the alpha could've possibly missed her entrance. When Charlie wandered up and took a stance at the window beside her, Sydney's hand came up and ran down Charlie's back in a gesture of comfort, which was a nice feeling after the night that Charlie had had at the club.

"How long has he been going at that?" Charlie asked in a low tone, knowing that Bruin was sleeping in the crib nearby. She watched as Aidan broke out into a run towards the rear of the property and when he collided with the mountain ash barrier, he was sent flying backwards, his butt connecting with the ground so hard that she heard the thud all the way in the house.

"Uh, a little less than an hour. I think he's mostly bored." Sydney replied with a chuckle. "He's spent all of his time in the house with me and Bruin since we got here, I think he's dying to get out there and have some fun."

"I hope he doesn't have as much _fun_ as I had tonight when he does eventually get out." Charlie remarked and Sydney tore her eyes off of Aidan in the backyard below. She turned her attention to Charlie and gave her a questioning look, a clear signal for Charlie to go on and tell her what had happened.

"You had fun?" She asked and studied Charlie's eyes, sensing that there was way more than she wanted to say but it was almost like Charlie was trying to figure out the best way to say it. "The way you said 'fun' didn't really sound like-"

"No, no I definitely did have fun, at least until Mason's make out friend turned all crazy." Charlie cut in and Sydney widened her eyes at her beta. "Lucas, his name was Lucas, and he was some sort of psychotic, black-eyed thing who had spiky things coming out of him."

"What?" Sydney narrowed her gaze in on Charlie and reached out for her, taking her hands in hers and studying her, clearly looking for injuries. Charlie didn't fight her, she merely let Sydney look her over, relaxing as her alpha ran her hands and fingers over her arms, then her shoulders. When Sydney's hands moved over her neck and back, Charlie let a shiver course through her body before grinning up at Sydney.

"I'm fine, I swear, just rattled." Charlie stated and turned her back to Sydney, letting her alpha continue to feel her out for any injuries. Sydney ran her hands over her back and moved her fingers through Charlie's hair and once she was certain that her beta was untouched, she gave Charlie a gentle pat on the shoulder. "It was pretty scary."

"I bet." Sydney murmured and latched her hand onto Charlie's wrist, guiding her over to the bed and dropping down onto the edge. Charlie followed her lead and when Sydney was laying sideways with her head on the pillow, Charlie quickly moved to lay down in front of her, flinching the slightest little bit as Sydney's hand ran through her hair one last time. "You want to talk about it some more?"

"I guess. One second we're all having a good time and the next second we're fighting off this Lucas kid, who seemed hell bent on hurting us all. Brett pulled him off of Mason and…and he got cut by one of the weird spike things." Charlie dropped her gaze down to the bed and Sydney shifted forward, scooting closer to her beta and good friend. Charlie let her take her into a comforting hug, even going as far as to relax against Sydney's chest, feeling the warmth radiating off of her body as her alpha tried to soothe her.

"But you're all okay?" Sydney asked in a whisper.

"Physically, yes."

"Okay." Sydney nodded and Charlie curled up against her. The feeling of being protected was strong and it didn't take much on Charlie's part to realize that Sydney wasn't about to let anything happen to her. This was her opportunity, she could ask her alpha if she could have a tail again and she figured that Sydney would be understanding as to why. This was all still fairly new to Charlie and she hated to admit that she wasn't ready but she knew that if she tried to handle too much too soon then it wouldn't end well for her.

"The freakiest part though is that after Scott showed up and stopped Lucas' attack, these three creeps showed up and killed him, they just shot him with an arrow in the middle of the room."

"What?" Sydney pressed. "Like hunters?"

"I don't think so, these guys were different, they were up in the rafters, they were dressed up in weird metal and had on these super creepy masks- I don't know what the hell they were, but they scare the shit out of me."

"But they didn't hurt you, right?" Sydney was tense next to her but Charlie merely shook her head no. "Oh my god."

"I know I said earlier that I didn't want a shadow but tonight was really scary, I was terrified."

"Okay." Sydney whispered. "Okay, you can have a tail again. If I'm being completely honest, I didn't really want you going out without one anyways, and now especially with all the exceptionally weird things going on in Beacon."

Charlie let out a sigh of relief and relaxed against her alpha. Sydney seemed to relax too and her hand began making its way through her hair. Charlie simply laid on the bed against her alpha and let her run her fingers through her hair, feeling the motions calming her each and every time Sydney's fingers gently raked over her scalp.

"Thank you." Charlie said softly and peered up at Sydney, who was smiling right back at her.

"You're mine to protect, I don't want anything happening to you. Don't get me wrong, I know you're strong and you can handle yourself but I know how tough it can be out there on your own. Having Ethan follow you isn't a sign that you're weak, not in my eyes."

"Yeah?"

"I think you asking for a tail is a good thing, it shows me that you're a team player, you're willing to accept help when you feel you need it. It took me a long time to learn that."

Charlie didn't respond, instead, she let her body sink into the covers on her bed, shutting her eyes as Sydney continued to run her hands over her head. Letting out a little yawn, Charlie felt herself getting more tired as the seconds passed. Tonight had been exhausting and now she was back with her pack where she belonged, where she felt safe. Nothing was going to take that away from her, this house was where she knew she'd be protected, and it was precisely where she wanted to be.

Sydney shifted ever so slightly on the bed and stole a glance at the crib in the corner of the room. Satisfied that Bruin was still sleeping soundly, she focused her attention on her beta, who was drifting off to sleep in her hold. This girl was hers to look after, hers to keep alive and that's precisely what she planned to do. Nothing was going to harm Charlie as long as she had anything to say about it and if Charlie wanted a tail, well that worked out all the better for Sydney. At least that way she'd have eyes on her at all times.

"Aside from the attack and the creeps, did anything else interesting happen?" Sydney pressed and Charlie let out a contented sigh.

"I was talking to Mason about Isaac." Charlie stated but her eyes remained shut. She was clearly too relaxed to move at this point, which was fine by Sydney.

"What about?"

"Just him in general, Mason told me that the best way to deal with him is to tell him that I really like him."

"Right, so are you going to?"

"No, not yet at least, not until I _know_ that Isaac sort of feels the same."

"What about Brett then, he's cute, isn't he?" Sydney suggested and Charlie sucked in a nervous breath.

"He _is_ cute but it's not quite the same as Isaac."

"Fair enough." Sydney gave a nod of her head and recalled her own internal battle. She had been the one to tell Peter that she loved him, she hadn't been expecting anything in return, but Charlie was younger and Isaac wasn't Peter. They were totally different people. "Fear of rejection?"

"Basically." Charlie hummed. "I don't want to lay it all out there only to have him turn around and tell me that he's dating a hot French girl."

Sydney let out a chuckle, "you're prettier than any French girl he could find. You're giving Isaac way too much credit okay."

"Am I though? We've never even met in person, what if what we have online is the best we're ever going to be?"

"When I first told Peter that I loved him, I was pretty terrified. It's a different situation because I never figured Peter would love anyone other than himself so I knew going into things that it was a one-sided feeling, but I told him that I loved him anyways. He wasn't really into the idea but when I justified to him why me loving him was beneficial to him, everything sort of fell into place."

"So did he say it back to you though?"

"Not at first. I was ready to leave though because he sort of treated me like a child and maybe in his eyes I was, but I fought for how I felt about him and eventually he told me that he loved me too." Sydney explained, letting her mind drift back to the first few weeks that she had spent living in his apartment, back when things seemed simpler and there weren't dead pools or nogitsunes running around Beacon Hills.

"Weren't you afraid that he'd find someone else, someone better?" Charlie's eyes popped open and she stared up at Sydney, who was still smiling at her.

"Peter loves himself more than he loves me, he always did, I think that Isaac isn't anything like Peter."

"Which is a good thing, right?"

"Absolutely. He's a good guy, if he didn't at least like you a little bit then he wouldn't be talking to you on a daily basis. I think you just need to tell him how you feel."

"Maybe." Charlie sighed. "Maybe I need to actually meet him, you know, face to face?"

"If he was as competent as the twins, I'd offer to fly him out here to be your tail, but he's still new to this lifestyle, at least in comparison to the twins. One day you'll see that Isaac's not just a friend. Even I can tell that he's got some sort of feelings for you."

Charlie remained quiet and absorbed all of the information she was given. Sydney had enough balls to admit to Peter that she loved him, even if she _knew_ that he wouldn't have felt the same, and that was to his face. How hard would it have been to text Isaac and admit that she maybe liked him as more than a friend, or even to call him up, say 'I like you, a lot' and then hang up.

There were ways to deal with the rejection if it did happen but lying next to Sydney, hearing her talk about Peter the way that she did, made it all seem trivial. She wanted him to know that she considered him more than a friend and if, for some reason, he didn't feel the same, then maybe then she'd be able to let him go and move on.

"Do you miss Peter?" Charlie asked in a hushed whisper.

"All the time." Sydney answered quickly. "But I know that he made his choice, he put power in front of me, and that's not okay. I miss him, I want him back with me every single day, but I know that he chose to give me up."

"Does that hurt?"

"It breaks my heart, especially when he's got a little girl that he doesn't even know about." Sydney sighed. "I just hope that when the day comes when he shows back up in my life that I'll be okay. These nightmares are starting to mess with my head."

"Really?"

"Yeah, if he showed up tomorrow, I'd be liable to kick his ass, just to make sure that he wasn't going to hurt Bruin, or any of you guys."

"All because of a few nightmares?" Charlie pressed, wanting to know how deep her alpha's fears truly went.

"I had a nightmare the other night that he was trying to kill me, and I'm pretty sure that he had already killed you, the twins, _and_ Bruin, all because he wanted my alpha spark." Sydney explained and Charlie reached her hand out, gently taking hold of Sydney's wrist and ceasing the movements of her fingers through her hair. "I don't trust him."

"Because of what he does in the nightmares?"

"Yeah, plus I don't know what's been happening to him since he was locked up. Eichen House is a sketchy place, maybe he's not going to be the same person that he was before he went in there, you know?"

Charlie gave a firm nod of her head and let out a breath. Sydney relaxed into the pillows and freed her wrist from Charlie's grasp, going right back to running her hand through her hair.

"I have every bit of faith that things will work out for you." Charlie murmured and watched as Sydney's lips turned upwards into a small, sad smile. "With or without him, you're a great mom, and you're a great alpha."

"Don't be saying that just yet, you've got to make it through senior year unscathed still." Sydney teased but Charlie knew that she was still thinking about not having Peter around. "If that happens, if you make it to graduation without getting hurt, then you can tell me that I'm a great alpha."

"Okay, I'll hold you to that."

"And I'll talk to the twins tomorrow about you having a tail again." Sydney snickered. "I love you Charlie, you're my family and I'll do anything it takes to protect you."

"Aw, I love you too Syd."

Sydney fell silent and Charlie snuggled up against her, letting out a yawn. When Charlie was settled in and her eyes were shut, Sydney let out a snort of amusement, bringing Charlie's attention right back to her.

"See how easy that was, now all you have to do is say it to Isaac." Sydney teased with a laugh and Charlie rolled her eyes at her alpha.

If only it really _was_ that easy.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Aftermath of the Dread Doctors at the club, how do you think Sydney and her pack are handling things?_**

 ** _DeVilDahling: no she certainly was not lol_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Thank you so much for the review! I really appreciate your kind words :)_**


	24. Chapter 24

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 24** **:**_

Sydney hadn't been expecting Charlie to still be curled up next to her when she woke up to the sounds of Bruin crying, but that's precisely where her beta was, except this time she was sound asleep. Her ordeal at the club had apparently been traumatic enough to completely exhaust Charlie and without hesitating for a second, Sydney slipped out of the bed, and out of her reach, before standing up. With Bruin still crying in the crib in the corner, Sydney moved across the room and looked down at her baby girl.

"Are you hungry Bruin?" Sydney questioned and reached into the crib, taking hold of the little girl and bringing her out, resting her against her chest. Bruin's cries slowed down at the contact but they didn't completely stop, which was fine by Sydney. At this time of night, there wasn't much that could've been wrong with her and it did seem like it was time for the girl to eat.

With that in mind, Sydney stole one last look at Charlie, who was looking way too comfortable sleeping in the bed, and proceeded to walked out of the room and make her way down the hall. When she hit the top of the stairs, Sydney felt a quick jolt of pain in her shoulder, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Heading down the stairs one by one, and whispering sweet promises to Bruin that she was going to get her something to eat, Sydney made her way towards the kitchen, where the bottles and formula resided.

At the bottom of the stairs though, she felt another sharp jolt of pain in her shoulder, this one slightly stronger than the last. Pausing, Sydney waited for it to go away and when it finally faded to nothing, she shook her head, looked down at the fussing baby, and forced a smile onto her face. Whatever was happening to her to cause her pain, well it wasn't worth worrying about, not just yet at least. Maybe she had been laying on her arm funny before Bruin had woken her up, maybe having Charlie laying against her had been the reason, either way, Sydney had feeding Bruin as her top priority.

"Too bad daddy wasn't here, then I'd be able to get him to take care of you so I could sleep." Sydney teased the baby and felt her mind drifting to Peter, like it so often did.

He had missed out on a lot already and it had only been a few months without him. He missed out on Sydney's pack forming, he missed out on all of her appointments regarding the baby, and he had missed out on his own daughter's birth. The longer she went on without him, the less she figured he'd come around. Her hopes were fading and even if Peter did manage to reappear in her life, she wasn't banking on him being the same person he was when she had last laid eyes on him.

Sydney looked around the kitchen and felt her heart speed up in pace. She tensed at the feeling and looked around again, searching for something, _anything_ , that could've caused her to panic. Everything in the kitchen looked fine and when she focused her ears, she could hear both of the twins soft snores coming from the basement. Okay, so then what the hell had happened to cause her heart to pick up in speed?

When her shoulder ached yet again, she knew that she had to find a place for Bruin to be set down, fearful that if something else weird happened that Sydney wouldn't be able to support the baby in her arms.

As fast as she could, she grabbed a couple of tea towels and spread them out over the counter as best as she could while still holding Bruin against her chest. When she was satisfied that this would have to do for the time being, she then gently laid the baby down _on_ the tea towels and lingered, giving Bruin a gentle poke in the tummy.

"Hang on Bruin." Sydney whispered and grabbed another tea towel, rolling it into a log and wrapping it around Bruin so that she couldn't roll on to her side.

As soon as she had finished setting it up so that Bruin wasn't going anywhere, she straightened up and gasped for breath. Her heart was pounding and she felt the sheer panic welling up in her body. When she squeezed her eyes shut, she concentrated on the pain radiating out of her shoulder and found herself reminiscing back to the time when she had been possessed, just like Stiles.

 _Stiles_! Yes, Stiles had been possessed too and together, they had formed some sort of weird nogitsune bond. She recalled the nights that she had fallen asleep peacefully only to wake up from nightmares, except they hadn't been _just_ nightmares, no, they had been real, but they had happened to Stiles. She had been right there with him while he fought for possession of his own body, and that was something she wasn't soon going to forget.

But this was different, she was awake, she was wide awake and-

"Holy shit." Sydney hissed and felt the back of her leg cramping, almost like someone had grabbed ahold of it. She lifted her leg up and ran her hand over her calf, feeling for anything that would potentially be there, maybe something had bit her, maybe she had moved her foot the wrong way, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong.

Planting her foot back on the floor, Sydney shook her head and tried to regain her composure. She looked at Bruin, who was still crying, still hungry, but suddenly she couldn't focus, she couldn't get her brain to work properly.

"Anybody!" She called out, desperate to get one of her betas to the kitchen. "Guys! Can one of you help me?"

Leaning her hip against the edge of the counter, she took in a deep breath and held it, hoping that it would help her to calm down, even though she didn't know why she wasn't calm to start with. When she blew the breath out, she shut her eyes and sucked in another breath, but this time, she didn't hold it, she didn't get a chance to before her heart picked up in speed yet again.

"Guys!" Sydney screamed out through the fear and after a few seconds, she heard a bunch of noises. Apparently she hadn't just gotten one of her betas, she had gotten them all.

Charlie was the first to arrive in the kitchen and her eyes immediately fell on the still crying Bruin. She scooped her up and cradled her against her chest as she moved closer to Sydney, who now had a twin on either side of her, the two of them looking her up and down.

"What's wrong?" Ethan questioned and Sydney shook her head, trying to get her heart to slow down.

"I just…something doesn't _feel_ right." She murmured in response and then waved a hand in Charlie's direction. "I got up because Bruin was crying, I thought maybe she was hungry so I came down here but when I got to the kitchen, my heart just started pounding, it's _still_ pounding."

"I can hear it." Ethan nodded and gently lowered Sydney to the floor where she sat. He moved down to sit next to her, even making a move to run his hand over her back. "Charlie, can you take care of Bruin for right now?"

"Yeah, sure." Charlie nodded and then set to work on getting a bottle of formula made for the baby. Bruin continued to cry while she did so, but Sydney was still having a hard time focusing.

"What's going on?" Aidan asked her as he crouched down in front of Sydney, setting his palms on her knees and looking right into her eyes, which were bright red. "Is there a reason you have your alpha eyes out?"

"What?" She fired back at him and her eyes widened slightly at his question. "No, that's not- I don't know what's happening!"

Ethan lifted his hand up and pressed his palm gently against her forehead. She sucked in a deep breath and held it, waiting for him to tell her if she felt hot or not. A fever, that was a very real possibility, especially with her withdrawal symptoms, but when Ethan shook his head no, she let out a frustrated sigh.

"Is there anything else weird going on?" Ethan pressed and met her eyes, which were now flickering between alpha red and her usual brown. He matched her eyes with his own vibrant blue orbs and she felt her muscles relaxing the tiniest bit.

"I uh, well, I felt a pain in my shoulder but it wasn't that bad and it went away after a few seconds." Sydney explained and lifted her hand up, slipping her fingers underneath the material of her shirt and feeling her skin over the spot where the pain had started. It felt normal, smooth, flawless, unmarked, but when she pushed into the tissue, she let out a wince. Okay, so it was still hurting, that wasn't normal.

Ethan pushed the collar of her shirt away and looked at her skin but he furrowed his eyebrows at the sight of nothing other than untouched skin. He prodded the same spot that Sydney had and when she let out a low whimper, he leaned in closer and sniffed it.

"Has anything like this happened before?" Ethan inquired and leaned back away from her. Aidan was still looking at her but he broke his gaze long enough to glance over at Charlie, who had Bruin in her hold with a bottle in her mouth, the baby no longer crying.

"Back with Stiles, when he was possessed." Sydney blew the words out and relaxed against the cupboards, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them tight. "I'd go to sleep and have these awful nightmares and I'd wake up but they weren't _just_ nightmares, they were happening to Stiles, they were…they were awful…"

Ethan rose up to his feet and offered her a hand. She took it without hesitating and Ethan hauled her upwards, Aidan following suit and slipping an arm around her shoulders when she was upright. She leaned against him, shut her eyes tight and focused on breathing. When she opened her eyes, she looked directly at Ethan, who smiled at her in response.

"Hello brown eyes." He teased and Sydney let out a small sigh. She let her head drop down to rest on Aidan's shoulder and before she knew what was going on, he handed her his cell phone.

"What?" She countered and tipped her head back, looking into Aidan's eyes. "I don't get it."

"Call Stiles, I think right now, that's a good place to start." Aidan suggested and smiled at her too. Charlie took a few steps towards them, Bruin still sucking on her bottle contently, and nodded her head at her alpha for encouragement.

"They have a point, if stuff like this happened before with Stiles, I think he's a good person to call. Maybe he can help you even?" Charlie pointed out with a knowing look.

"Yeah?" Sydney looked down at the phone and slowly punched in the boy's number.

When she was happy with it being right, she hit the call button and lifted the device up to her ear. It rang, and rang…and rang and no one answered. When it went to voicemail, she hung up and hit redial. Maybe he was just preoccupied, maybe he was busy with Scott or something? When it went to voicemail for a second time, she felt the worry flooding her veins. It was the middle of the night, and while it wasn't uncommon for Stiles to be out traipsing around Beacon Hills, her recent experience, paired with the memories from the whole nogitsune possession, had driven her to the brink.

She needed to hear Stiles' voice, she needed him to tell her that he was okay.

This time she left a quick message, telling him to call her back right away. When she ended the call, she clutched the phone in her hand and shook her head, but that didn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. Aidan took her into a hug and held her against him as he tried to provide any bit of comfort that he could.

Ethan wandered over and looked down at Bruin, who seemed rather happy now that she was eating, then he looked at Charlie just to make sure that she was holding up okay too.

"What if he's in trouble?" Sydney asked sadly and leaned back in Aidan's hold. "What if something happened to him?"

"Keep calling him." Charlie remarked. "Maybe text him too?"

Sydney nodded her head in understanding and dialed his number one more time. She hit the call button but before she could get the phone to her ear, his panicked voice sounded out in the kitchen from the device in her hand.

"Syd!" Stiles called out to her and she choked back the lump in her throat.

"It's me, yeah, listen, are you okay?" She asked quickly and even though he wasn't saying much, it wasn't hard for her to pick up on how shaken up he sounded.

"Uh, no, no I'm not, I just…I just-"

"Do you want me to meet you somewhere?" She cut in, sensing how much he was struggling with his words. " _Can_ I meet you?"

"Yeah, yeah of course. My house, twenty minutes, how's that work, good for you?"

"Yes." Sydney breathed the word out and felt her heart finally slowing back down to its normal pace. She took her bottom lip in between her teeth and debated her next words but she knew that the best way to approach the situation was to be blunt about it. "How's your shoulder?"

"My what- how did you know?"

"Stiles, I don't know what's going on, maybe we can figure something out at your house."

"Okay, twenty minutes."

"See you then." Sydney sighed and ended the call, then she handed the phone back to Aidan. He tucked it into his pocket and looked at her, waiting for her to say something. "Do you guys mind looking after Bruin for an hour or two?"

"Of course not." Aidan shook his head. "You go and do what you need to do."

"Okay." She bowed her head.

Not another word was shared between them, not as Sydney headed for the front door, not as she grabbed her car keys and not as she disappeared out into the middle of the night. When the headlights of her car flashed in through the window, Ethan looked at his brother, then settled his gaze on Charlie, who had a serious look on her face.

"Which one of you is going to follow her and make sure she doesn't get into any trouble?" Charlie asked and watched as Ethan looked at Aidan and Aidan looked right back. They seemed to be having a silent conversation and after a few seconds, Aidan lifted his hand up into the air.

"I'll go." He announced and before anyone had a chance to argue, not that they were going to, he was out the door after her.

All that Ethan and Charlie could do was make sure that Bruin was taken care of and pray for the best.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney wasn't sure if she was supposed to knock on the door or not when she arrived at Stiles' house, a good ten minutes after she was supposed to be there. She stayed in her car and produced her own phone, quickly sending him a text to let him know that she was at his house and more specifically in his driveway.

She knew he was home because she was parked behind his jeep and since her car was the only other vehicle next to the jeep, she figured that Stiles was at his house alone, which was something that didn't sit well with Sydney, not after her ordeal back at the house. When her phone vibrated with his response, telling her to 'come on up', she sucked in a breath and climbed out of the car, making sure the doors were locked behind her.

As stealthily as she could, she made her way to the front door of the house and turned the knob, pushing it open and stepping inside. There was a comforting scent lingering in the home and she knew immediately that it was the smell of the Stilinskis, two men who she'd do anything to protect. She loved them, she cared for them and now she just wanted to make sure that Stiles was okay.

Taking the stairs, she headed up to Stiles' room and paused in the open door, looking at the board in the middle of his room with words scrawled all over it, as well as pictures and red string connecting various scenes. She gave a halfhearted knock on the doorframe and when Stiles met her gaze, she stepped inside and moved to stand in front of him.

"I can't- I can't figure this out." Stiles mumbled and Sydney studied his face for a few seconds, then she slipped an arm around his shoulder and let her head drop down. " _Why_ can't I figure this out?"

"What happened to you?" She asked but her eyes were looking over the board, taking in all of the names that were written there. She locked her gaze on a series of sentence fragments and read them in her head. When she looked at the one on the bottom of the list, she tensed and jerked her body away from Stiles. "Someone's taken a body?"

"I don't- I'm not sure." Stiles answered and let out a frustrated sigh. He then proceeded to drop down and sit on the end of his bed, Sydney following his lead and scooting over to sit right beside him. "I was at the library."

"Okay, doing what?"

"I was looking- it doesn't matter. When I went out to the parking lot to go home, this- this kid showed up." Stiles paused and Sydney wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him tight. She tried to draw out any residual pain and as she felt her veins drawing it out, she also felt Stiles calming down a little bit too. "He attacked me."

"Did you fight him off?" She asked softly and shut her eyes, trying to imagine Stiles in the parking lot fighting off another kid.

"Not exactly." Stiles answered but there was something in his voice, something that spooked her a tiny bit. "I got him off me and ran back to the library and I- I just, it all happened so fast and I was so, so scared."

"Stiles, what happened?" She urged him on and continued to draw out any pain that he might still have. She had felt much worse coming from a human, she had felt much worse pain coming from him in the past, which only served to remind her that he was alive, he wasn't broken and he was right there with her. She knew that he was going to be okay, he had to be okay, he was part of her family.

"The kid, the kid wouldn't stop taunting me, telling me how his dad was partners with my dad when he was still a- a deputy. I just, it happened so fast."

"What happened?" Sydney repeated her words, her tone still soft and soothing.

"He fell, he fell off the scaffolding and…and he died, I saw him die, I know I did."

"He's dead?"

"Donovan, yeah, I saw him."

"Where is he now?"

"I ran outside, I called the cops, I did, I swear, and I sat in my jeep and waited for them. I don't know what happened to him but when I went back into the library after the deputy left, the body- the body was gone, the mess was gone, everything was gone and I don't- I don't know, I don't know what to-"

Sydney felt him turn towards her, she felt him bury his face into her shoulder and she felt him shaking. She knew that he was scared, he was terrified really, and at the feeling of him grasping on to her with his last ounce of strength, she knew that whatever he had witnessed, whatever he had been involved in, it was bad, really, really bad. Stiles was a strong person, he could handle a lot, but she knew, especially after the nogitsune had possessed him, that he'd reach his breaking point eventually. Was _this_ his breaking point?

"Stiles, it's okay." Sydney murmured and ran her hand up and down his back, trying to provide him with any bit of comfort that she could. She knew that he wasn't the type of person to admit things like this to just anyone but she also knew that there was definitely a special bond shared between them. If that had to do with the lingering effects of the nogitsune, then so be it, but Sydney wasn't going to up and leave him, not when he so very clearly needed someone to be there for him.

"It's not, it's not okay, not okay at all." Stiles rambled on and she felt him leaning back, his eyes meeting hers. She flickered her alpha eyes at him, just to remind him that she was powerful, she was powerful and she was there to make sure he was okay. "I killed…it's my fault, I pulled the pin, I pulled it and the…the scaffolding…he just, he's dead, he's dead because of me."

"Oh Stiles." Sydney cooed and ran her palms down his arms, taking a gentle hold of his hands. His heart was pounding, his chest was heaving and when she met his eyes, she saw the tears welling up in them. Stiles was definitely breaking, and Sydney didn't know what she could do to help him, aside from reassure him that all that mattered was that he was alive.

"I killed- I did that."

"It was self-defense Stiles, you didn't kill him on purpose. You just wanted him to stop, you wanted him to leave you alone, right?"

"But I did that…to him."

"And he would've done worse to you if you hadn't stopped him, whatever you think you did, whatever you believe, it was necessary. I don't know exactly what you're going through, I don't, and I can't even begin to imagine how scary that would've been, but you did all you could to stop him, you… _you_ didn't kill him, it was an accident." Sydney said. "You didn't…"

"I don't know anymore." Stiles broke in and sucked in a nervous breath. "I don't know what to do anymore, I don't know what's going on, I don't know how to get anyone to believe me, I just- I don't know what to do."

"You're preaching to the choir here Stiles. I fumbled my way through the supernatural from the age of ten until about a year ago." She admitted. "I didn't have anyone until I came back to help Derek, I had no idea what was really out there, not like you do. At least you have Scott, and you know more than a lot of people."

"But how come- how come this keeps happening to me, to _us_?"

"I don't know the answer to that." She shook her head and glanced over to the board in the middle of the room. "And I don't know what to tell you about the missing body, but I can tell you this, okay, and listen good: tonight, I could feel you, I could sense your distress, so whatever you're dealing with, I'm right there with you, I'm right there next to you and so help me, nothing's going to get to you, not if I have anything to say about it."

Stiles blew out a breath and nodded his head in understanding; Sydney forced a small smile at him in the hopes of comforting him a bit more. He dropped his gaze to the floor and when he looked up again, he was looking at the board in front of him, looking at the pictures, the words, the evidence that was mounted there.

"Sometimes, I miss Derek." Stiles confessed and Sydney nodded her head in agreement.

"Me too."

"He would've…he would've believed me, you know?"

"Well, I may not be Derek but I will always believe you, even if you claim that diamonds fell out of the sky."

Stiles' lips quirked upwards and Sydney leaned into him, giving him a nudge with her elbow. He let out a sigh in response and reached over, taking her hand in his and giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. Sydney dropped her head down and rested it against his shoulder, simply basking in the feeling of having him right next to her. If it was up to her, she'd have him living in her house so that she could watch over him, and the sheriff too, but that wasn't how it worked. He wasn't hers to keep caged, but she knew that she had Charlie, and Charlie would stick with him so long as he wanted her around.

"I don't think I'd claim that diamonds were falling out of the sky, that seems a little farfetched, even for us." Stiles whispered.

"Okay, but if diamonds ever do start falling from the sky, just make sure you grab one for me."

"Yeah." Stiles gave her a nod and she felt him relaxing against her. "I definitely will."

Sydney remained silent as the two of them looked at his board. She tried to understand as much of it as possible but to her it was just random names, random pictures and random words scattered everywhere. She read Theo's name, Tracy's name, a few others too and it wasn't until Stiles gave her hand another squeeze that she tore her eyes off the board and looked right back at Stiles.

"If you need me, for anything, you can call me." Sydney murmured and stared him right in the eyes. "Even if it's just to chat."

"Yes, good. I will keep that in mind."

"I know, sometimes I know people just need a friendly reminder. I'll always be there for you and I will _always_ believe you."

He merely smiled at her in response, after all, what else was there for him to say?

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _So what'd you all think about Sydney heading on over to help Stiles out?_**

 ** _Thank you poorxbrokexcollegexkid and DeVilDahling!_**


	25. Chapter 25

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 25** **:**_

After hearing about Charlie's situation at the club, as well as dealing with her own ordeal when it came to Stiles being attacked, Sydney was ready to jump back into a training regime. There was also the added benefit that _if_ Peter showed up and he wasn't completely himself, then she'd be well versed in the act of fighting, well versed enough to fight him off and keep her pack, and her baby, safe.

So when she woke up early that morning, she had decided that it was time to get back into the swing of things. Charlie and the twins had had enough time off and since it was still the weekend, it seemed like the perfect time to start. With Bruin cradled against her chest, she headed out of her bedroom and right for Charlie's, knocking on the half opened door before waltzing back in.

She remained silent as she crossed the floor and sat on the edge of Charlie's somewhat made bed, and then Sydney looked at the screen of the girl's laptop, a small smile forming on her face at the sight of Isaac Lahey looking right at Charlie. When Charlie pulled her attention away from Isaac long enough to shoot Sydney a questioning glance, the alpha merely grinned at her.

"Hang on one second, okay Isaac?" Charlie questioned to the screen and he nodded his head in response, then Charlie locked her eyes on Sydney and finally took in her alpha's attire. She was wearing a t-shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves, and also tied around her waist, then on her lower half, she was wearing a pair of what looked like running shorts and her feet were bare.

"Training time." Sydney shrugged and looked down at her slightly squirming baby. "Back yard, twenty minutes, okay?"

Charlie rolled her eyes at her but nodded her understanding, then she turned right back to the screen, Isaac shaking his head at her with an amused look on his face. Sydney didn't move right away, she lingered on the bed and when it was clear that neither one was going to say anything until after she was gone, she let out a huff and marched out into the hall.

When Sydney was out of sight, Charlie let out a scoff and watched Isaac grinning back at her from inside the window on the screen.

"You're lucky that you have an alpha, you know that right?" He remarked and she tilted her head to the side.

"Isaac, until Syd came along, I was basically an omega, I know how lucky I am to have her." Charlie countered. "I'm sure if you two actually sat down and talked, she'd welcome you into her pack too."

"That would involve leaving my home here in France." Isaac pointed out and she knew that he was somewhat teasing her, but there was a part of her that wanted nothing more than for the two of them to meet up, face to face, and see where things went.

"It's not like you'd be homeless." Charlie grumbled and her eyes lit up with an idea. "Maybe you can just come for a visit?"

"Maybe you can come _here_ for a visit." Isaac shot back and wiggled his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes at him and stole a glance back at her door, which was wide open since Sydney had waltzed in.

"Here though I'm not by myself, so…"

"I get it. You're protected there if I _do_ turn out to be some crazy weirdo."

"Yeah, plus people here know you, don't you want to visit your friends?" Charlie asked and Isaac seemed taken aback by her question.

He had left for a reason and going back to the one place that he had wanted to get away from didn't exactly sound like the ideal situation. Maybe she didn't completely understand what had happened, he had exactly told her _everything_ but still, Charlie was asking a lot, even if she didn't really know it.

"I'll think about it."

"You will not." She countered with a growl and lifted her hands up into the air in frustration. "I know that tone, I know that it means you just said that to make me feel better. Isaac, come on, you can come visit me here and you wouldn't have to see anyone else aside from me, Syd, Bruin and the twins."

"I don't really care to see the twins either." He remarked and Charlie locked her eyes on him giving him the scariest glare she could muster, which, by the way that he leaned away from the screen, she figured was pretty menacing.

"Fine, you stay over there in France and I'll just find some other guy to fill my free time."

"Yeah, like who?" He challenged her and her lips turned upwards into a grin.

"Brett, I like Brett, he's very pretty, all muscly and tall and handsome-"

"Charlie-"

"Nope, you had your chance." She beamed at him. "Anyways, I've got to get ready for training, I'll talk to you later."

He let out a sigh, "okay."

"Bye Isaac."

"Bye Charlie."

She closed down the video chat program and then closed the lid on her laptop. Without putting it off any longer, Charlie stood up from the chair and moved around the room, gathering up her training outfit, which consisted of a pair of knee length shorts and a t-shirt that Sydney would insist that she roll the sleeves up on. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and bounded out into the hall before running down the stairs and coming to a stop in the kitchen where the rest of her pack sat at the table chatting away.

Charlie made a move to lower herself into the chair next to Sydney but Sydney popped up, still holding Bruin, and nodded towards the back door to the house. Letting out a barely audible groan, Charlie followed Sydney as she led her pack to the backyard, Ethan and Aidan both dressed appropriately for the occasion.

When they stepped out into the backyard, Sydney headed right for the portable playpen set up under an oversized sun umbrella, werewolf baby or not, Sydney wasn't going to be taking any chances when it came to Bruin's wellbeing. When Bruin was tucked away inside the pen and Sydney was sure the shade was covering her, she turned to face the rest of her betas

"What's so important about today, why couldn't we have a bit more warning before we get back to training?" Aidan asked and jogged out into the middle of the backyard, stopping before he hit the mountain ash barrier.

"I just think that after Charlie got attacked at the club and Stiles got attacked at the school that maybe we should brush up on our skills. You guys can fight me on this if you really want, literally." Sydney smirked at them all and wandered closer to Aidan, planting her hands on her hips. "What are you going to do about it tough guy?"

"Fine." He whined and lifted his arms into the air, letting his palms gently fall against the top of his head. "Point taken."

"Plus I think it'd be fun to get back into the swing of things, I haven't taken any of you guys out since before Bruin was born." Sydney pointed out. "Hey, I'll make you a deal here Aidan, a one-time only thing: if you can pin me to the ground then I'll call training off for the day and we won't start again until Monday, how's that sound?"

Aidan looked at Sydney and studied her for a few seconds before looking past her at the remaining two betas in the pack. Charlie was smiling at him and his brother looked a little disappointed, but that easily could've been because he had been witnessing Aidan trying to get through the mountain ash barrier not too long ago, and failing miserably. Apparently Ethan had little faith in his brother.

"Sounds good to me Syd, but let me warn you, I don't go down easy." Aidan glared playfully at her and Sydney's smirk grew.

"Peter said that once and _he_ ended up in Eichen House." She stated and let her hands drop away from her hips, her claws coming out at the same time. She craned her neck, stretching it out and when she looked back at Aidan, her red eyes were glowing in his direction.

He brought his own claws out and when his eyes turned to their vibrant blue, she took that as a sign that he was ready, and he was going to go down, hard.

Sydney launched herself at him but Aidan avoided her body by dodging to the side. She let out a low, feral growl and crouched down, digging her toes into the grass and leveling him with a fierce glare. Aidan let his arms dangle in front of his body and he cocked his head to the side before straightening up, a taunting invitation for her to 'come and get him'.

Sucking in a deep breath, Sydney stalked forward and closed the distance between them, yet Aidan remained standing right where he was. She paused in her advance and looked him up and down and when she looked at his face, she spotted the razor sharp canines littering the rows of teeth in his mouth. She rolled her eyes at his blatant attempt at intimidation and without a word of warning to anyone, she dove forward, making a grab for his calves.

When her claws pierced the skin on the back of his leg, he let out a pained roar and reached down for her, desperately trying to pry her off his leg, but her claws only sank into his flesh further, blood dripping over her fingers. It wasn't until Aidan happened to make a lucky swipe, breaching the skin on the back of her neck, that she reared back and let her grip on his calf go.

He backed away from her, twisting his leg to get a better look at the damage she had caused, but Sydney was undeterred. There were five clear cut puncture wounds on the back of his leg, blood dripping out of each and every one, and she looked right at him, silently demanding that he give in, that he submit to her, but Aidan knew better, he knew that this wasn't the end. She'd have to fight a lot harder than that to take him out.

Sydney stood in the grass and let him come closer, his teeth still barred, the look on his face terrifying to anyone who didn't know him, but she did, she knew him and she knew him well. Aidan wasn't scary, he was predictable and the only time she had ever found the twins remotely terrifying was when they were able to morph into one giant alpha. The time for that was over, at least for the time being, which meant that Sydney had the upper hand.

"Get her!" Charlie chanted, clearly on Aidan's side. Sydney shot her female beta a glare but didn't move as Aidan stalked closer and closer to her.

When he made a move to lunge forward, she jumped over him, like in leap frog, and kicked him in the ass with her foot. Aidan fell to the ground, landing on his stomach with an 'oof' sound, but Sydney wasn't going to stop, she rounded on her heels and charged at his fallen form before dropping her knee down into the middle of his back.

"God damn!" Aidan roared in pain and she pressed her knee harder and harder into him. She then grabbed his right arm and pulled it straight back, listening for the familiar cracking, or popping, noise of a serious shoulder injury. When the pop sounded out in the backyard, Sydney leaned over him, her mouth right by his ear.

"Say 'uncle'." She purred and when Aidan didn't respond for a few seconds, she gave his arm a jerk, eliciting a pained cry from Aidan. "Say it!"

"Okay fine! Uncle, for god's sake uncle!" He called out and Sydney loosened her hold on him before standing straight up, leaving Aidan on the ground in front of her. "Jesus, you haven't lost your touch at all."

"I know." She smiled and Aidan scrambled to his feet, turning his right shoulder in her direction.

He didn't have to say a word for her to know what he wanted and without putting it off for another second, Sydney grabbed hold of his arm, one hand on his bicep and the other on the front of his shoulder, and pushed the joint back into its socket. Aidan gritted his teeth but let out only a small hiss of pain before he flexed his fingers and turned towards the other two betas.

"Training's still on." He grumbled and Sydney gave him a firm pat on the back. "And I'm never doing _that_ again."

As he poked and prodded at his shoulder, Aidan lumbered back towards his brother and Charlie, who both set their hands on his arms and drew out a little bit of his pain. Sydney came up behind him and did the same, hoping that he'd be right back to full strength in time to spar with his brother in a few minutes.

"Just remember who the alpha is." Sydney pointed out with a victorious smile. "And don't challenge me again."

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Training had seemed like a productive way to spend the morning, except now it was the early afternoon and Sydney was feeling kind of tired. With Aidan watching over Bruin for the time being, she had headed up to her room to have a shower and change, but once she was inside, she found herself wanting nothing more than to lie down on her bed.

Sydney shook her head and tried to pull herself together, hoping that one day she'd get what she really wanted, which was Peter back in the same state that she had left him in, so that he could be the father that Bruin needed. Sure the twins worked well with her but what happened when Bruin was a little more grown, a little more abrasive, the twins weren't her father, which meant that they weren't expected to act like it. Having Peter with her seemed like the ideal solution, but the fact that he had chosen power over her still nagged at the back of her mind.

What sort of person gave up the one person they loved in order to try and gain power that he didn't even need? She was already an alpha, they had been relatively happy together, so what had driven him over the edge, what had caused him to push her to the backburner while he teamed up with Kate Argent, the same Kate Argent who had burned most of his family alive _and_ set her house on fire?

Dropping her gaze down, Sydney looked at the diamond ring adorning her finger, the very same diamond ring that had once belonged to Peter's late wife Eden, who had also perished in the fire. It sparkled back at her and she gripped the sides of the ring, gently twisting it until her finger was free and the small piece of jewelry was firmly held in between her fingers.

The ring had been a constant reminder of what she was lacking in her life and maybe she needed a break, maybe she needed to try living without the hope that Peter would ever make it back to her. Even if he did show up, what was truly stopping him from doing the same thing over again?

"You're a stupid asshole." Sydney muttered at the ring and let out a growl. Her frustration with Peter was growing by the day and being back in Beacon Hills only served to make her angrier. "I hate you."

She sucked in a breath and moved the ring to her other hand, studying it in detail. It was rather pretty and she knew that Eden would've loved it, but would _she_ have put up with Peter's behaviour if it was anything like he was when he was with Sydney?

Had Eden let him do whatever he pleased? Had he listened to her and respected her? If she had asked him to choose her or power, would he have chosen power, just like he had when he had been with Sydney?

Staring at the diamond, Sydney felt her eyes welling up with tears but she refused to blink, she didn't want them to spill out. Peter wasn't worth crying over and she wasn't going to give him that, she wasn't going to let him win this round. She was stronger, she had to be, she had Bruin to worry about, and her betas too. She couldn't be weak, physically or mentally, but she knew that she was reaching her breaking point.

Eventually Sydney was going to have to figure something out and if that meant talking to the twins about breaking the mated bond, yet again, then that's what she'd do. She'd hold out just a little longer, at least until everything settled down in Beacon Hills, and then she'd seek out help, maybe even Steve had some ideas on how she could break the mate bond, _if_ it came down to that.

Flopping down onto the end of the bed, she curled up and shifted, reaching up to grab a pillow before burying her face into the material. The ring was still clutched in her hand but at the thought of Peter not being there to see his child, she extended her hand and set the ring on the patch of bed next to her. When she was finished feeling sorry for herself, well, then she'd find a better place for the ring, other than on her finger.

The tears erupted from her eyes and streaked down her cheeks, falling to the covers of the bed below her. She tried to choke off a sob but at the mere thought of Bruin downstairs, getting comfortable with her betas, she couldn't take it anymore.

This wasn't what was supposed to happen, this wasn't how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to be with Peter, they were supposed to be together, raising Bruin _together_.

As much as she adored Charlie, she knew she never would've met her if Peter hadn't decided to try and kill Scott. Maybe if he had been there for her when she found out about Bruin, Sydney would've handled her pregnancy differently, maybe she wouldn't have gone through with it at all.

There were so many 'what ifs' surrounding Peter and his motivations, but the one thing she knew for sure was that it was too late to turn her back on Bruin now. She was here, and Sydney was going to raise her as best as she could.

When a soft knock sounded out on her open door, Sydney quickly swiped at the tears and turned her head back, taking in the sight of Charlie standing inside her doorframe.

"I was just coming to check on you." The young beta murmured and waited in the doorway. Sydney rolled her neck and dropped her face back into the pillow, letting out a pathetic whine that would rival that of a real wolf.

At the sound, Charlie moved forward and cautiously walked around the bed, her eyes immediately landing on the diamond ring residing on the covers in front of Sydney. She gingerly took hold of it and sat down, running her hand not containing the ring over Sydney's shoulder in a lame attempt to comfort her.

"Sorry." Sydney whispered and Charlie nodded her head. She was certainly confused as to what Sydney had to be sorry for but at that moment, she knew that there were more important things to worry about, for one: why was Sydney crying?

"It's fine." Charlie said softly in response. "Are you okay then?"

Sydney lifted her head off the pillow a few inches and seemed to consider the question. When she shook her head no, Charlie tucked the ring into her pocket and then made a move to lie down, slipping her arms around Sydney and letting her alpha curl up against her chest.

Usually Sydney was the one comforting her but Charlie knew that this was a desperate time. Sydney was always there for her, she looked out for her and took care of her and maybe this was Charlie's opportunity to do the same in response.

"What's the matter?" Charlie questioned in a low tone so that even if the twins _were_ listening in, they'd have a hard time hearing the conversation.

"I don't know, just…just everything I guess." Sydney answered and more tears cascaded down over her cheeks. Charlie lifted her hand towards her face and gently brushed the tears away, meeting Sydney's sad, broken eyes. "I just miss him and I hate him for what he did to me but I want him here, I love him, I'll always love him."

Charlie took her alpha's words into consideration and hesitated. She didn't want to just say the first thing that came to her mind, no, she needed to think this through. Sydney deserved her full, undivided attention and even if Charlie had heard the horror stories about Peter Hale, she was aware that Sydney still loved him, in spite of his flaws.

"You're allowed to be mad at him." Charlie admitted. "You're allowed to be upset at what he did and I can understand how you could hate him right now, but he loves you, and he always will."

"But he's not here." Sydney whimpered. "He's not here and I need him here."

"You don't _need_ anyone." Charlie remarked and Sydney tipped her head back to get a better look at Charlie, who was smiling down at her. "You don't need anyone because you're strong, you're smart and you're fierce, and you can handle anything that comes your way. Bruin _needs_ you though."

"Bruin…" Sydney murmured her little girl's name and squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds. When she opened them, her irises were red.

"Yes, she needs you. You're her mother, you're the only one that she absolutely needs."

"And here I am crying in my room." Sydney muttered and shied away from Charlie in embarrassment.

"You're allowed to cry, you're allowed to be upset and if you need a break from looking after you're gorgeous little baby girl, that's what I'm here for, and the twins too. Life gets pretty tough, you and I both know that, and I feel like you've dealt with a hell of a lot of shit on your own, am I right?"

Sydney took in a slow breath, "I guess so."

"Well you've got me and the twins now. While you don't _need_ us to survive, you've got us and we'll stand by you, we'll _always_ stand by you. You haven't steered me wrong yet."

Sydney reached her own hand out and ran her fingers along the side of Charlie's face. Charlie didn't flinch or move a muscle at all, instead, she forced her golden beta eyes out and matched Sydney's red alpha eyes.

"I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you." Sydney breathed the words out and Charlie couldn't help but smile.

"You'd figure out a way to carry on." Charlie pointed out. "That doesn't mean I don't want you to do everything that you can to keep me alive though."

"I know." Sydney bowed her head and took her bottom lip in between her teeth. "Look, if something ever happens to me, I need you to make sure that Bruin's taken care of. I don't care how you do it, whether your dad looks after her or you hunt down Peter and explain everything, I just need to know that you'll make sure she's set."

Charlie gave a slight nod of her head and Sydney let out a low sigh before curling up tighter against Charlie's chest. She let out a contented hum and let Charlie run her hand over her back, this time the attempt to comfort her was actually working a little bit. Being in her bed, lying next to Charlie was soothing because at least for that minute, that very second, Sydney didn't feel completely alone.

"You'll figure this out, Peter _will_ be back and when he finally shows up, he's going to love that little girl of his with all of his heart."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." Charlie cooed and shifted the tiniest little bit, getting slightly more comfortable next to her alpha. "And if you ever need someone to talk to again, I'm right here. I'll _always_ be right here."

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Thoughts?_**

 ** _Thanks to those of you sticking with me here._**


	26. Chapter 26

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 26** **:**_

 _She rolled over and let out a loud yawn, catching the bright moon still high in the sky through the window across the room. Finding an empty bed surrounding her, she shut her eyes and sighed, knowing exactly where to find the missing Peter Hale. Pausing for a second before she made any move to get up and search him out, she tuned into Charlie's even breathing, the soft pitter patter of her younger beta's heart, as she slept just across the hall._

 _Smiling to herself, Sydney shoved the covers down and moved her legs to the edge of the bed, not even bothering to find pajama bottoms to cover up her black underwear, she was way too tired, and still somewhat sore, to care about covering up. It's not like anyone besides Peter would see her anyway, not when everyone else was sleeping soundly._

 _Her arms extended into the air as she stretched her shoulders out, letting a wince escape her throat in the process as she strained her abdominal muscles, which were achy still, days after bringing baby Bruin Lee Hale into the world._

 _Her hands came to rest against her sides, pressing into her skin in a lame attempt to alleviate her aching muscles, but the pain still lingered. She moved forward, tucking her elbows closer to her body as she crossed over the threshold of the bedroom door and carefully made her way down the hall, as quietly as she could. Glancing back at the half open door to Charlie's room, she couldn't help but smile, knowing she was sound asleep, having peaceful dreams, unlike her._

 _Her lips twitched upwards as she closed in on Bruin's room, the lamp near her crib giving off a soft glow, enough for Sydney to see Peter clearly but not enough to bother the sleeping baby in the crib next to him._

 _She knew he was well aware she was behind him but that didn't stop him from jerking as she wrapped her arms around him from behind, pressing her forehead against the spot between his shoulder blades. His left hand moved to rest against her arm, which was pressed against his torso, while his right hand remained wrapped around the top part of the tiny little girl's crib._

" _First night back at home and I don't even get to sleep next to you." She murmured tiredly, the aches in her body being pushed to the back of her mind as she just basked in the quiet, neither one of her betas making any noise at all._

" _I was just checking on her."_

" _You should be checking on me." Sydney teased and pulled away from him, quickly stepping around him and leaning against his side. His arm roamed up her back and he rested his hand on the back of her neck, his eyes never leaving the sleeping baby in the crib._

" _You're fine." He breathed back and finally looked at her. "Aren't you?"_

" _Well I'm feeling kind of neglected. If I knew having a baby would take all of your attention away from me, I never would have gone through with it." She grinned at him but he just looked at her, somewhat appalled by her implication._

" _You want my attention?"_

" _Hey I didn't mean you can't just stand here and stare at her, but Peter, it's the middle of the night, she's asleep, and I could use some company in bed."_

" _What time is it?"_

" _Two…ish."_

" _What?"_

" _See, you've been in here a long time, should I be worried about you?"_

 _He drummed his fingers against the crib but moved his hand away from it, turning to face Sydney head on. She reached up and grabbed hold of the wrist belonging to the hand that was on her neck, gingerly pulling it down and holding it between their bodies._

" _She looks like you Sydney."_

 _Sydney cocked her head to the side in confusion and smiled in response. "No she looks like a baby, exactly the same as every other baby."_

" _How can you say that?" He sounded offended, as if Sydney dared to lump his baby girl into the same category as other mundane infants._

" _Babies all look the same." She shrugged and glanced down at tiny baby Bruin, curled up in her crib sleeping peacefully._

" _That may be but she's you, in so many ways."_

" _She's not even a week old, she looks like a baby."_

" _She's got your eyes."_

 _Sydney let out a sigh but looked down into the crib, studying the face of her newborn baby girl. Maybe babies all looked similar to her but she could easily see why Peter was so mesmerized, the tiny little girl was perfect; ten fingers, ten toes, everything where it should be, nothing missing, no extra limbs, and the most beautiful expression of peace on her face as she slept._

" _I want her to become an alpha." Sydney breathed out. She had been thinking a lot about it, ever since she found out she was pregnant, and then when she found out that she was, in fact, having a girl, she just wanted it even more._

" _Why?"_

" _I want her to be all she can be. She'll be an amazing woman and she deserves to be an alpha, to be a leader to her own pack."_

" _I don't disagree with you." Peter smiled at her and Sydney stepped closer to him. "I'm sure if she sets her mind to it, she'll be able to do anything."_

" _Just like her mom?"_

" _Just like her mom."_

" _So, are you going to stand here all night and watch her sleep then?" Sydney asked, taking her bottom lip in between her teeth, looking up at him with a coy expression._

" _I'm sure I could manage to tear myself away from her for just a little while."_

" _Then you're going to come to bed with me?"_

" _Certainly."_

" _Thank god." She let out a sigh of relief and laced her fingers with his, gently tugging on his arm as she made a move towards the door._

 _He barely budged though, holding her back as he took one last look at Bruin, sleeping peacefully in her crib. It would never cease to amaze him how lucky he was to have found a woman like Sydney. She had given him so much; a reason to keep going when things got tough, a sense of belonging, and most importantly, the most amazing little girl that he had ever seen._

" _Did you make sure the pack's all okay?" Peter asked, finally giving in and following Sydney as she wandered out of the room. "Charlie was worried that the barrier in the back yard had been breached while we were gone."_

" _It's fine." She scoffed, amused by the fact that her and Peter were having a calm conversation about the pack that he hadn't exactly been thrilled with her having to start with._

" _Do you think Bruin will be afraid of anything?" Peter asked, remising over how comical it had been when he first met Charlie and she was so ignorant of everything that lurked in the dark._

" _God I hope not. I would love to be able to sleep without having to worry about doing a perimeter check every night."_

" _Were_ _ **you**_ _ever afraid of anything, any creatures at all?" Peter questioned and wandered over to Charlie's closed door, leaning against the wall just off to the side. Sydney was well aware of what he was doing, she could tell by the look on his face that he was focusing on the beating of the girl's heart, making sure that Charlie was sleeping soundly and not having any sort of vicious nightmares the she sometimes suffered from._

" _I watched my parents get slaughtered." She shot back and fixed him with a glare. "I was traumatized for months."_

" _Touché."_

 _Sydney rolled her eyes at him and pranced across the hall, walking into her room before dropping her butt onto the edge of the bed. She watched as he wandered into the room too, stripping off the shirt he had worn all day before moving his hands down to make short work of his belt._

" _No more kids okay?" She announced and looked up at him, an almost sad look consuming her features._

" _Okay." He nodded, an equally sad look on his face._

" _Alright then."_

 _Sydney leaned back, her body connecting with the bed before she wiggled her way up towards the pillows, burying her face into the soft material of the pillowcases. Less than a minute later, Peter climbed in next to her, lying in front of her as he met her gaze, their faces mere inches apart._

" _I love you." He whispered._

" _Enough to take my pain away?" She tossed back with a sigh._

" _What pain?" His expression immediately turned to one of worry, clearly concerned by what she had just said._

" _Nothing major, just the usual achiness associated with giving birth."_

" _Still?"_

" _Yeah still."_

 _Peter motioned for her to turn around and Sydney complied, rolling over so that her back was to him. She tensed at his touch, not expecting him to slip his arm around her and pull her against him, his hand coming to rest on her ribs. She held her hand in the air away from her body while he got comfortable behind her before setting her hand on top of his, slipping her fingers in the spaces between his._

 _She relaxed into the sheets and let out a soft sigh, her eyes just barely picking up the veins in his arms as they turned black, pulling any remaining pain out of her body._

" _Better?" He asked, pressing his lips to the side of her neck._

" _Mmm."_

 _It wasn't too much longer before Sydney's breathing evened out and her body relaxed even more. Holding on to her, Peter just took a few minutes to take it all in and that's when she felt his hold on her tighten. Sydney gasped at the pressure of his hold but he merely tightened his grip on her hand, squeezing so hard that she felt her bones cracking._

" _What are you-"_

" _Bruin will be an alpha one day." He remarked and pressed another kiss to the side of her neck, this time it didn't feel very comforting though, it was more like a warning._

" _What?"_

" _Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you." He purred, his lips right next to her ear. "I'm just going to hurt you, until you can't fight back any longer. When Bruin wakes up, you'll be so weak that she'll be able to steal your alpha spark from you. She'll be an alpha and you'll be dead."_

" _Why?" Sydney ground the word out, trying to fight off his grip. Her fingers continued to break and snap and he bent her wrist backwards, cracking the bones in it too. She fought off the urge to cry out and focused all of her strength on getting away from him, but he slipped his other arm around her and held her against him, not letting her get away._

" _Well if I'm not an alpha myself, what better option do I have than raising my own daughter as one? She'll be so easy to control, to manipulate, don't you think?"_

 _Sydney let out a low growl and drove her elbow backwards, breaking his hold on her. She wasn't quick enough though, before she could get out of the bed, his hand was around her neck, his claws digging into her skin. She fought to breathe but the more she tried to get away, the further his claws drove into her flesh._

 _It was all she could go to rasp out one final word before she fell unconscious._

" _Bruin."_

"Syd!"

Sydney jerked her body awake and her eyes popped open, the red irises glowing in the darkened bedroom. When she sucked in a gulp of air and tried to get her heart to slow down, she also caught the scent of her beta, Charlie, who was sitting on the edge of Sydney's bed, looking at her carefully.

Sitting up, Sydney leaned towards her and set her hand on her knee, reassuring Charlie that she was okay, that it was just another bad nightmare. When Charlie let her head drop down, she took in the sight of Sydney's trembling hand, the one not residing on her knee.

"We're going to have to get you a dreamcatcher." Charlie murmured and Sydney could hear it in the tone of her voice, she was trying to tease her, but it sounded more like worry than anything else.

"Well, maybe, that does sound like it might be worth a try." Sydney replied and pulled her hand off of Charlie's knee, crossing her arms over her chest to hide her shaking limbs from sight. "At this point, I'm up for anything."

Charlie shifted on the bed and twisted her body, bringing her legs up so that she was sitting in front of Sydney, her legs crossed underneath her. She leaned forward and Sydney patted the pillows next to her, where Charlie quickly moved to sit. When they were side by side, the covers over their lower bodies, Sydney felt Charlie's head gently drop down to rest on her shoulder.

"Sorry, I would've woken you up earlier if I had known you were having a nightmare." Charlie said softly and slipped her hands around Sydney's upper arm, curling up against her.

"It's fine, it _was_ just a nightmare, although I really have to stop dreaming about Peter killing me or I'm going to lay him out when I see him… _if_ I see him again." Sydney trailed off and turned her attention to the side, avoiding any sort of potential eye contact with Charlie. "What time is it anyways?"

"A little after two." Charlie answered, and is if to prove a point, she let out a little yawn. "I was talking to Isaac, I haven't been to sleep yet."

"Jesus." Sydney tensed at the girl's admission, but she quickly relaxed, realizing that it wasn't a school night and that Charlie, so long as she was behaving and safe in the house, wasn't causing any problems for her. This way she knew that her beta wasn't out getting herself attacked by weird creatures or anything scary like that. "Okay, you should probably stop staying up so late to talk to him, but that being said, it's fine."

"I didn't realize we were talking so long, one minute I looked at the clock and it was like eleven, the next time I looked at the clock, it was two. As soon as I realized how late it is, I said bye to Isaac." Charlie explained and Sydney lifted her arm up, running her hand through Charlie's silky brown hair. "I came in here to put your ring on the dresser but then I heard your heartrate spiking, so I watched you for a few minutes, waiting for you to calm back down."

"My ring?" Sydney turned her attention towards Charlie and glanced down at her, a look of confusion on her face. "What- oh, Eden's ring?"

"Yeah, I put it in my pocket earlier and forgot about it until I went to put my pajamas on, I figured if I put it on your dresser, you'd see it sometime after you woke up." Charlie stated. Sydney nodded her head at her and let out a small sigh as Charlie dug into her pocket and freed the ring from inside.

Charlie then handed the piece of jewelry to Sydney who took it and slipped it on her finger, looking down at the diamond in the darkened bedroom, the only source of light from the hall, which was enough to provide Sydney with the ability to see everything necessary.

Charlie poked at the diamond and then gave her hand a gentle pat, "How come Peter gave you his dead wife's ring?"

Sydney choked back a laugh as she recalled the memory in her head. She had asked for a drawer to put her stuff in, Peter had said that if she cleaned out the top drawer, that she could have it. She had found the ring tucked away there, only it had been covered in ash.

"He told me that I could have it when I found it in his room." Sydney answered with a fond smile. "I had to clean it up though, it was all black from the fire."

"He just gave you a diamond ring though?"

"Yeah, I promised to take care of it. I haven't let anything happen to it yet."

"Did it mean anything at the time?" Charlie asked and glanced up at Sydney.

"What do you mean?"

"Well was it given to you with a promise or anything? Could it be considered an engagement ring?" Charlie pressed and Sydney shook her head no. "So he literally just gave you a diamond?"

"Yup. It was before we were mated, back when we were still sort of getting used to living with each other."

Charlie fell silent and studied the ring on her finger. It was rather classy, simple yet elegant, and if someone had even given Charlie a ring like that, she'd make sure that it had come with some reassuring words or a promise that whoever gave it to her would always be there for her. Sydney didn't seem too fazed by the lack of promise or meaning to the ring, she simply seemed content accepting the diamond as it was: a gift without any strings attached.

"Did you want an engagement ring from him though?" Charlie murmured. "Is that something that you want with him?"

"I already have a kid with him, getting married isn't a farfetched idea." Sydney pointed out with a joking tone. "I don't know though, I don't know that werewolves get that sort of thing. I mean, look at my family, Derek's family, the twins too, I don't see anyone with a happily ever after anywhere near me, especially not anyone who's supernatural, you know?"

"Yeah." Charlie breathed the word out. "But you can still _want_ that stuff, you can still want a happily ever after."

"Do you want a happily ever after?" Sydney narrowed her eyes in on Charlie.

"I think so. I want to be as normal as I can but at the same time I know I'll never be just a regular girl. I've got supernatural friends though, so it's not like it was back in Colorado right? Back there I really only had you, the twins and my dad. Here I have you guys plus Stiles, Liam, all them."

"Plus Isaac." Sydney added in. "Can't forget Isaac."

"No but he's a million miles away." Charlie grumbled.

"One day you'll get to meet him in person and it'll be everything you could ever imagine. Life might not always give you the things you want but it has a funny way of giving you the things you need." Sydney said in a soft tone. "Just don't give up on him yet."

Charlie let out a low growl of frustration, "I'll try."

"Trust me, things don't happen the way you'd expect them too."

Charlie clutched Sydney's arm tighter and snuggled up against her even more, basking in the warmth radiating off of her alpha's body. She was hundreds of miles away from her father, and her mother had died when she was just a tiny tot, but right there, at that moment with Sydney next to her, she knew that she had a family that she could count on. She was right, maybe things didn't always work out the way she expected them too but sooner or later she _did_ get some decent things in return.

She _knew_ Isaac, she had met him online, and if the events of her life hadn't happened the way that they did, then she wouldn't have had the opportunity to even get to know him at all. Plus now she had a pack, a pack that she loved being a part of, and if her life had turned out differently, there was a chance that it wouldn't have been as amazing as it was at that very moment.

"You're not giving up hope on Peter, are you?" Charlie asked quietly.

"I don't know. I don't think so but there are days where I just can't understand what's happening or why he's not here with me. I want him back, I will always want him back, but maybe part of me is trying to be realistic."

"No." Charlie shook her head.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"No, don't be realistic. Just hang on to whatever it is that you really want." Charlie remarked. "Things don't always happen the way you expect them too."

Sydney scoffed as the girl echoed her words from mere seconds before, apparently Charlie listened better than Sydney originally believed.

"Don't be a smartass." Sydney snorted in amusement but Charlie simply smiled at her in response. " _But_ you do have a point."

"Oh, I know." Charlie giggled.

Sydney fell silent and thought about what she had just said, and then what Charlie had reiterated. It was a valid point, a very decent motto to live by and maybe if life wasn't giving her what she wanted at that moment then she could be the one to change that. She had the power to change the course of her future, especially if there were people that she cared about involved.

"I told you about Sam, right?" Sydney asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

"You did." Charlie nodded and Sydney made a move to get out of the bed. Charlie reluctantly let go of her and watched as Sydney planted her feet on the floor and climbed off the bed. She paused at the side and looked back at Charlie with a smile on her face. "She was the little girl that you saved."

"She was." Sydney gave her a nod and wandered towards the dressed on the other side of the room, near where Bruin laid sleeping in her crib. "She's part of Satomi's pack but I've been thinking a lot about her lately, especially now that I have Bruin, and I wanted to get your opinion on me maybe talking to Satomi about looking after her."

"For a little while or like, forever?"

"I think like forever." Sydney nodded and shifted her position so that she was in front of the dresser. She gingerly pulled the top drawer open a few inches and slipped her hand inside, searching for something. Charlie was reduced to watching and when Sydney pulled her hand back out, she held a photograph in her hand. "I mean, I haven't talked to Satomi yet, and I don't know when I'll get a chance, but I think I'd like to have her with me, you know, as much as possible."

"Well Satomi's old, isn't she?" Charlie pointed out and Sydney nodded her head, but rolled her eyes at the same time. "Maybe Sam _would_ benefit from a younger alpha looking after her."

"Good, we're on the same page then?" Sydney countered and turned around, leaning her back against the dresser as she clutched the photo in her hand. Charlie gave her a shrug in response and shifted to the side, flipping the switch on the lamp beside her and illuminating the room in a soft, white glow.

Sydney pushed herself away from the dresser and tiptoed back to the bed, climbing in next to Charlie and letting her beta snuggle up against her side. When the two of them were comfortable, Sydney handed Charlie the photo and Charlie studied it, taking in the sight of a young man holding two small babies.

"What's this?" Charlie asked in a whisper.

"Turn it over." Sydney ran her finger along the edge of the photo and Charlie did exactly as she was instructed, reading the writing on the back of the picture. "Peter wasn't always bad, I knew him when he was just a kid and I just wish that everyone else got to know him back then too."

Charlie shook her head in amusement at the sight of a young Peter holding onto a baby Sydney and a baby Derek. It was easy for Charlie to see that maybe there were things about Peter Hale that not everyone knew and that meant that they didn't trust him, or even like him, but that didn't mean that Sydney didn't know what she was doing. She had chosen him, she had wanted him and loved him, even at that very minute, and who was Charlie to judge?

"Life is funny, isn't it?" Charlie chuckled, peeling her eyes off the picture and looking up at Sydney with a smile.

"Gives you what you need, and not always what you want." Sydney smiled right back. "I know it might not mean much to you but whoever you decide to love, or wherever you want to be, I'll support you, one hundred percent, so long as you're happy."

"Yeah?"

"Of course."

Charlie couldn't help but smile even wider at Sydney's words. She leaned against her alpha and felt Sydney's arm come around her shoulders, giving her a gentle, reassuring hug. It was at that very moment that Charlie felt the most relaxed she had in days, and she didn't want to ever forget the feeling.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Thoughts on the nightmare? And Sydney's idea of maybe taking on Sam?_**


	27. Chapter 27

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 27** **:**_

Charlie was at her locker the following Monday morning when Stiles approached her in a bit of a panic. It would've been rather comical, the look on his face, but she was vaguely aware that he had gone through something fairly traumatizing at some point after she had arrived home from the club. Sydney had been pretty non-specific about whatever it was he had gone through, but if he had been shaken up enough to warrant a physical reaction in her own alpha who wasn't even _with_ Stiles, then she could conclude that it was bad, without needing anyone to tell her.

She hadn't really spoken to Stiles though, not since the last week at school but she knew that he had been talking to Sydney over the weekend after his ordeal, which made sense considering her alpha had left late at night to make sure he was okay.

She didn't know what had really happened, nor was she going to ask anyone, it just seemed like something that Sydney would've preferred to keep to herself and she didn't feel like she knew Stiles well enough to blatantly ask him if he was coping well with whatever had happened to him. When Sydney had offered Charlie her car keys that morning so that she could have her car to head to school, she took them without a word, aside from a quick thanks, and left, looking back in time to see Ethan leaving the house, ready to get back on his bike and ultimately back on her tail.

"Charlie!" Stiles called out to her as he closed in on her locker, which was wide open. She grabbed the books she needed and then shut it with a slam, turning to face him straight on as he took a stance in front of her, coming to a stop just a few feet away from her. When he produced a thick stack of papers, held together by a black binder clip in the corner, out of his backpack, she furrowed her eyebrows at his gesture in confusion.

He jerked his hand at her once, implying for her to take the papers from him, and when she did, she looked at the picture on the top page. Whatever he was giving her seemed to be a photocopy of some sort of book and when she spotted the picture of the three creepers that she had seen in the club adorned there, she felt a shudder ripple through her body. Well that was certainly one for the 'weird coincidences' column.

"What _is_ this?" Charlie asked in a low tone and flipped through the pages, seeing the rest of them filled with words. Apparently it wasn't a picture book, much to Charlie's dismay. "And who are, no wait, what are those things on the front?"

"Malia found this book the other night at Tracy's house when she went to check the place out, the guys on the front are The Dread Doctors, at least that's what we're assuming at this point. I really want you to give it to Syd for me, she needs to see that and she needs to read it too." Stiles tapped his index finger on the top of the pages and Charlie gave him a nod, signaling that she understood what he wanted her to do. "I just…I just need her to know what we're dealing with."

"Right. I saw them, they were at the club." Charlie tipped her head to the side and debated asking him if she should also read it, but at that very moment, she wasn't sure she _really_ wanted to. The creepy figures from the club, apparently called 'The Dread Doctors' were real, they weren't just some freaky characters in a book, and if she read about them, what sort of nightmares would she face while she was really awake?

"Wait, like the same club that Liam and Mason were at?" Stiles narrowed his eyes in on her and Charlie shrugged at him as if to say 'what can you do'.

"They showed up after Scott knocked Lucas out."

"Huh, well…that's…that's sufficiently terrifying." Stiles remarked but she knew that he was a little unnerved. Maybe Scott had mentioned that part to him, maybe he hadn't, in the long run, it didn't matter to her because Charlie still didn't understand what the hell was going on and why there were people dubbed 'The Dread Doctors' running amuck in Beacon Hills.

Part of her had wondered if maybe she, as well as the others at the club, had maybe just mistaken the guys in the rafters for something else, _someone_ else, but she knew, especially when she had heard Scott talking to them, that they weren't just figments of her imagination, they were real, and that terrified her.

Who had come up with their name too, as if seeing them wasn't freaky enough without knowing what to call them, now there was a name to put to their faces, well lack thereof. Charlie shivered at the mental picture of them that would forever be burned into her mind, The Dread Doctors, yes, Stiles wasn't wrong, they _were_ sufficiently terrifying.

"Anyways, can you just let Syd know…" Stiles lifted a hand up and ran his fingers over his head in a nervous manner. Charlie didn't need to take in his scent to know that he was anxious, rightly so: Beacon Hills was getting weirder and scarier by the second. "Can you just tell her that we're heading to Eichen House tonight, to talk to the guy that's mentioned in that book? She can call me if she needs to but can you just- just tell her that?"

Charlie gave him another nod and quickly turned back to her locker, working away at opening it. She wasn't about to carry this creepy book around with her all day, no, she was going to store it in her locker and get it out at the end of the day, when school was over. At least that way she wouldn't find herself too tempted to look at it some more, not until Sydney saw it first.

"You need me to go with you? Or did you want me to ask Syd to tag along at all?" Charlie questioned and popped the door to her locker open, gently stuffing the photocopied book inside, sandwiching it between two of her textbooks. "I mean, I'm free, if you want an extra pair of hands and I'm sure if Syd finds out that you want her there, she'd be more than willing to-"

"Yeah, well, the thing is…I don't think that's a, uh, very good idea right now. Maybe you can just sit this one out, and Syd too? Yeah, you two should definitely sit this one out, that sounds good, really good." Stiles was tripping over his words but Charlie merely shook her head at him and forced a smile onto her face. If he didn't want her, or Sydney, at Eichen House with him that night, then she'd respect his wishes, Charlie just didn't know if Sydney would be as willing to stay back as she was.

She wasn't totally disappointed to be left out though, in fact, she was somewhat relieved. After the grueling weekend training sessions she had gone through with the twins and Sydney, as well as the emotional roller coaster with her alpha breaking down, well Charlie was definitely ready to just have a night at home, to relax, maybe talk to Isaac some more, maybe do some homework, and then she'd start thinking about the eerie existence of the Dread Doctors and what they were doing in Beacon Hills. Maybe by then, Sydney would've finished the book and the two of them would be able to bounce ideas off of each other, depending on if Sydney wanted her to read the book too or not.

With the fleeting thought that maybe she wasn't supposed to read the book, Charlie's mind immediately went to how she could get a copy of the book for herself. She could photocopy it, sure, but did she have enough time? Maybe it was available in the library, school or public, she made a mental note to check and find out. Maybe she could find it for sale online: Ebay, Amazon even?

If that was the case, would it arrive too late to be of any use to her? Was is a good idea to simply ask Sydney if she could borrow the copy that Stiles wanted to give her? Or could she honestly consider reading the book before she even handed it over to Sydney?

"Stiles," Charlie paused and took in a quick breath of air with the hopes that she sounded calm and concerned, but not awkwardly concerned, "be careful tonight, okay?"

Stiles studied her expression for a few seconds and then nodded at her. She knew that he'd be the first one to run into a burning building if it meant helping out his pack, but there was something not sitting right with her at the mentioning of them going to Eichen House. Maybe it was because she heard about Peter being there, maybe it was because the building itself was creepy as all hell, but no matter what her reason, she didn't totally like the idea of a bunch of teenagers exploring the joint, which just proved to reassure her that staying home seemed like a good idea for her.

"Yeah, yeah okay. You uh, you make sure that your pack is safe too, all right?"

"I'll warn them, I'll let them know that it's getting dangerous out there." She gave him a small, sad smile. "Stiles?"

"Huh? What is it?" He looked at her but jerked his head to the side, seemingly looking for someone else, or something else, maybe a way to end the conversation and head to class, maybe a way for him to be on his way without it getting too awkward between them.

"I don't like this, this is pretty scary, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Yeah it is."

"Good, so I'm not the only one that feels that way." Charlie bowed her head and looked down at her feet. She lifted her head back up and opened her mouth to say something more but the bell sounded out, keeping her silent and effectively cutting their conversation short.

Stiles lifted a hand into the air, gave her a reluctant wave and then turned away from her. She watched him as he took off for class, or for whatever mission he was on that day. She stood in the hall until he disappeared from her line of sight, then she let out a sigh, shut her locker one more time and headed to class, hoping that everyone would still be okay at the end of the night.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie had the stack of papers, which made up the photocopied book, hugged tight against her chest when she walked up to the front door of the house. Sydney's car was parked in the driveway, a little crooked but nonetheless in the driveway. When the sound of Ethan's engine echoed from the road behind her, Charlie paused on the front porch and turned to watch him pull his bike in next to Aidan's, who's bike hadn't moved at all that day.

She continued to wait for him as he climbed off the motorcycle, peeled the helmet off his head and jogged up to the door, stopping behind her and slipping an arm around her shoulders.

"Uneventful day today huh?" He teased, knowing full well that she had spent the entire day at school. There were no adventures for her, no leaving the school grounds until the end of the day, yes, he was right, it was absolutely uneventful, except for the part where Stiles had given her a book about The Dread Doctors and told her to hand it over to Sydney. That part was pretty eventful and the picture on the top page still gave Charlie the willies.

"I guess, yeah." Charlie mumbled in response and let Ethan give her a sort of half-assed sideways hug. She relaxed against him the tiniest little bit and let him step ahead of her, opening the door and ushering her inside. The two of them paused, giving Ethan a chance to shut the door, while Charlie used her hearing to pinpoint Sydney's location: she was in the living room and by the sounds of it, she was with Bruin _and_ Aidan.

"You got some homework there?" Ethan asked and motioned towards the thick stack of papers clutched against her chest.

"Uh, something like that." Charlie replied, not really sure how to let him in on the secret. Maybe she wasn't even supposed to, maybe Stiles wanted Sydney, and Sydney alone, to know about the contents of the book, maybe it was all for her eyes only.

"Okay." Ethan said and lifted his arm away from her shoulders. He branched off and headed for the kitchen, leaving her to do her own thing and head for the living room.

When she stepped in, she looked at Sydney, who was sitting on the floor, Bruin beside her on a blanket with one of the couch pillows next to her, and forced a smile. Aidan lifted his hand up into the air and waved at her, but he didn't move from his position on the couch.

"How was school?" Sydney asked and patted the patch of floor next to her.

Charlie peeled her backpack off of her back and gently dropped it to the floor just inside the living room, then she headed right in, gingerly dropping down to her knees beside Sydney, the photocopied book still clutched against her chest. Sydney tossed a glance in Charlie's direction but her hand moved closer to Bruin, letting the little girl wrap her tiny fingers around her thumb.

"School was fine." Charlie answered simply and watched Bruin for a few seconds before loosening her grip on the book. She let it fall away from her chest and when Sydney looked at her, maintaining eye contact for longer than a few seconds, Charlie anxiously offered her the stack of papers, face up so that the eerie picture of The Dread Doctors was visible. "Stiles gave me this to give to you."

"What is it?" Sydney tilted her head to the side and cautiously peeled her thumb out of Bruin's grasp before taking hold of the book.

"It's a book, apparently Malia found a copy of it in Tracy's room the other night." Charlie explained vaguely and watched as Sydney's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"Tracy?" Aidan broke in, also very confused as to what was going on in front of him.

"Uh, the kanima that killed a couple people a few days ago…she was a girl at school and I went to talk to Brett about her, with Liam and Mason. Syd was there too."

"I know who Tracy is." Sydney muttered but Aidan gave Charlie an eye roll.

"Well I didn't, that's why _I_ asked." Aidan threw in and let out a small, barely audible sigh, before relaxing into the back of the couch.

"Fine." Sydney shot him a look and he raised his hands in surrender before she focused her attention back on Charlie. "So Malia found a copy of it in Tracy's room, but what's so important about it?"

"Syd, remember how I told you about those weird _things_ that I saw at the club, the ones that killed Lucas?"

"Yeah?" Sydney's tone prompted Charlie to keep talking and even Aidan seemed to be more interested in the conversation at that moment versus about ten seconds ago.

"See those things on the front page?" Charlie pointed to the three creepy figures on the cover.

"I do." Sydney nodded and suddenly it hit her like a punch to the gut. Charlie had described them well considering that she recalled what she had said about them and the picture on the top was pretty much what Sydney had been thinking. Charlie had told her that the creepers were wearing creepy masks and that they were dressed up in weird metal outfits. Well the picture on the top page certainly resembled what Charlie had described and Sydney was starting to piece it together. "You _saw_ these guys? These were the things that killed Lucas at the club?"

"Yes." Charlie sighed, clearly frustrated at what was going on. Everything was happening too fast and it was too weird. She was starting to feel totally overwhelmed and being in Beacon Hills was no longer fun and exciting, it was merely terrifying and nerve-wracking. "Maybe not _exactly_ the same ones but they could definitely be brothers."

"Charlie, for real?" Sydney leaned in closer to her and leveled her with an intense stare. "This is who you saw at the club?"

"Yup." Charlie said, popping the 'p' for added effect. "Creepy aren't they?"

"They're terrifying." Sydney huffed. "God, I can't believe I let you go out without Ethan to watch over you, I'm so sorry. This is why you came home so scared, isn't it?"

"Do you blame me, they're kind of freaky, like nightmarishly freaky." Charlie tapped her finger on the picture and looked at it, shuddering at the thought of what they could've done to any one of them at the club. They had so easily killed Lucas, what had stopped them from doing the same to her, or Liam, Mason, and Brett? What about Scott and Kira too, did these Dread Doctors have some sort of agenda and if that was the case, what did they want? What were they after?

"I can definitely see that." Sydney sighed and set the stack of papers on her thigh, using her one hand to flip through the pages. "Stiles gave you this?"

"Yeah, he really wanted you to see it, and read it too. He said you can call him if you wanted."

"Like before or after I read this?" Sydney asked, her eyes locked on the cover picture.

"Huh well, actually, I'm also supposed to tell you that they're going to Eichen House tonight, I guess the guy that wrote the book is there." Charlie explained and kept her eyes on the pages as Sydney continued to flip through them. Sydney paused when she got near the end and when she landed on a page with just a few short sentences, she read the text there, spotted the name of a man who was mentioned in the paragraph but Dr. Valack wasn't anyone that she recognized.

"Eichen House." Sydney echoed the words and apparently something hit her. She straightened up, jammed her hand into the front pocket of her jeans and dug out her cell phone. When she freed it from her pants, she looked at the screen, stopping dead in her movements when Charlie's palm came down to rest on her wrist.

"Syd?"

"Eichen House, you said they were going to Eichen House?"

"Yeah, I asked Stiles if he wanted you or me to tag along but he said we should sit this one out." Charlie added swiftly and leaned against Sydney's side. "Why?"

"Peter." Sydney tossed out and used the hand not in Charlie's grasp to wave at her. "Peter's there, or, well, I mean, he _was_ there."

"Okay, so?" Charlie egged her on, clearly missing the point of her little epiphany.

"Maybe Stiles can- maybe Stiles will see him there, maybe he'll get a chance to talk to him even." Sydney's eyes widened with what Charlie could only assume was excitement at the thought of _someone_ seeing Peter Hale. At her alpha's words, she lifted her hand away from her wrist and let Sydney go ahead with whatever she had planned out in her head.

Charlie was silent as she witnessed Sydney dialing Stiles' number. When Sydney lifted the device up to her ear, the living room fell dead quiet, except for a few small coos coming from Bruin, who seemed perfectly content on the floor next to her mother.

Sydney listened to the phone ring a total of three times before Stiles finally answered but when she heard his voice, she froze up, not knowing what she wanted to say to him, or how to even breach the subject. She knew that not everyone felt the same way she did about Peter, in fact to a lot of Scott's pack, he was just a murderous psychopath hell bent on acquiring as much power as he could, however he could acquire it at all, but did that mean that Stiles wasn't going to at least try to look out for Peter, especially if it was Sydney who had requested him to do so?

They were close, they were friends and she knew that he liked her. She had vowed to do her best to keep him safe, that had to count for something, didn't it?

"Syd, hello? Are you there?" Stiles' voice broke her out of her trance and Sydney shook her head, trying to regain her composure.

"Yeah, god, I'm sorry. I got a little ahead of myself." She tried to shrug off his concerned tone but she was already tense, too excited at the prospect of gaining even the tiniest bit of intel on Peter's whereabouts, as well as his physical and mental status.

"Right."

"Anyways, Charlie told me I could call you."

"That's right. Did she give you the book?" Stiles asked and Sydney ran her finger over the short paragraph where Dr. Valack's name was found.

"She did."

"And she mentioned our little field trip to Eichen House tonight?"

"Yup."

"You're not calling to ask if you can come with us, are you?" Stiles pressed and Sydney was taken aback by his words. _Us_ , he had said 'us'. Who was 'us' and what the hell was their plan?

Were they just going to waltz up the insane asylum and knock on the door, demanding to talk to one of the patients there? Were they going to break in, was that the ultimate plan? The more Sydney thought about what a 'field trip' to Eichen House really entailed, the more scared she felt for Stiles' safety.

"I don't think so… _you_ need to tell me more about this 'field trip' as you called it. Who's us? What do you think you guys are going to do to get into the building?" Sydney fired back, clearly a little unsettled at the whole idea. "You're not breaking in, are you?"

"I don't think so, no, I guess we were just going to try the old fashioned way and ring the doorbell."

"It has a doorbell?" Sydney cocked her head to the side and let her free hand gently fall to the floor, her fingers running along Bruin's little arm.

"We'll figure it out when we get there but we're not breaking in, at least that's not Plan A."

"Is it Plan B?" Sydney groaned. "I don't like this already."

"We have to do what we have to do. If Valack can help us, then it's- it's worth the risk. If we can save other people, then it'll all be-"

"Be careful." Sydney cut him off with a growl to her tone. "And you call me if you need help. Don't try to be a hero, don't any of you try to be a hero. If you find yourself in a situation where you need help to get out, you call me, you hear me Stiles?"

"Loud and clear." He replied and sucked in a breath. "I got it Syd."

She blew out a breath and squeezed her eyes shut, silently praying that he'd be okay and that everyone going along with him would make it out of there unscathed.

"You never said who 'us' was." Sydney murmured, concern lacing her tone.

"Scott, Kira, Lydia…the usual." Stiles was clearly trying to play the whole thing off like it was no big deal but Sydney wasn't so sure. Beacon Hills had given her the willies from the very second she had crossed into town and after hearing about Charlie's terrifying ordeal at the club, plus Stiles having to kill in order to keep himself alive, Sydney was about ready to hole up in her room until everything was back to normal. She was starting to regret coming back to Beacon Hills, especially when Colorado was so much calmer.

"Okay." Sydney breathed the word out and tried to calm herself down. There was no stopping them at this point, Stiles alone was a stubborn enough person to not back out, not after the idea had already been planted in his head. There was no point trying to argue with him.

"That's it?"

"I guess." She sighed. "Well no, maybe there's just one more thing."

"Okay, what is it?"

"If you happen to see Peter, or get the chance to talk to him, can you just tell him…" She turned her attention to the baby lying on the floor beside her and felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She could tell Stiles to tell Peter so many things, 'I love you' crossed her mind first but she figured that wasn't something Stiles would be totally comfortable passing along. She could tell him to mention that he had a daughter but that seemed like something he should hear from Sydney. "Just tell him…"

"Bruin." Charlie supplied in a whisper and Sydney jerked her head around to face her.

"Just tell him 'Bruin'." Sydney nodded her appreciation at Charlie and heard Stiles suck in a breath.

"You sure?"

"Yes, but only if you see him in passing. Do not, you hear me, _do not_ go looking for him." She instructed and heard the low whistle that he let out on the other end of the line.

"You don't have to tell me twice not to go looking for Peter Hale." He tried to joke with her and Sydney gave him a firm laugh just to humour him. If he was going to pretend that this was a joke-worthy situation, then who was she to steer him in a different direction. "I won't, okay, Charlie already told me to be careful and careful I will be."

"Good." Sydney barked the word out and when Aidan's hand came down to rest on her shoulder, she let out a sigh of relief. Just knowing that she had him and Charlie right there with her was comforting. "Now I'm telling you too, Stiles, _be careful_."

"Always."

"Okay. Talk to you later."

"Bye Syd."

Sydney waited until he hung up the phone before she moved the device away from her ear, setting it on the stack of pages on her thighs. Charlie leaned against her further and slipped her arms around her middle, hugging her and trying to comfort her.

"He'll be fine." Aidan announced, having heard every word of their conversation because of his werewolf hearing, Charlie hearing it all too. "He's Stiles."

"Yeah." Sydney let out a soft sigh. "You're right."

Sydney couldn't help but wonder if maybe this time Aidan was wrong.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

The sun had been down for a short little while and Charlie had managed to finish most of her homework, even if she had been texting Isaac for the majority of the night. If it hadn't been for the other distraction, the bigger distraction in the form of the creepy novel that Stiles had wanted her to pass on, then maybe she would've been able to focus more on what she was doing and gotten her homework done a little earlier.

In the long run, it didn't matter because she _had_ finished it, and Isaac hadn't been neglected too badly for the night. But the book was still on her mind. She wanted to know what was in it, she wanted to know more about the Dread Doctors, the same weird things that had shown up at the club and finished Lucas off. She wanted to be included in what was going on and so far, Sydney hadn't come to talk to her, she hadn't come to mention anything.

She vaguely remembered hearing the front door closing and one of the twin's bikes revving up, but they had been back for a while. Wherever they had gone, they were back, but yet no one had come to see her since she had wandered up to her room after dinner hours ago.

She flipped her laptop open and the screen sprung to life, where she quickly typed her password in and waited for it load up. When it was ready and waiting, she brought up the internet explorer and typed in the address for Ebay. When the page was up and running, she typed 'The Dread Doctors' into the search engine and hit the search button.

Before she could get a handle on what the hell she was even looking for, she spotted it, about halfway down the page, staring right back at her. It was the book, it was right there in front of her, all she had to do was purchase it and have it sent to the house, then she'd have a copy all for herself. It seemed slightly less sneaky than trying to steal Sydney's copy.

At the sound of approaching footsteps in the hallway, Charlie minimized the internet window and opened up a game of cards. When Sydney cleared her throat, Charlie looked to her door and forced a smile at her alpha, who was holding Bruin against her chest with one arm while the stack of photocopied papers dangled from her other hand.

"What's up?" Charlie asked and tried to be nonchalant about it. What exactly did Sydney want?

Sure Charlie had been a little irritated at the lack of anyone checking on her, especially after finding out what the things were in the club, but the way that Sydney was standing there, a worried expression on her face, Charlie knew this wasn't exactly what she had had in mind.

"I sent Aidan out to make copies of this." Sydney said and lifted the novel up slightly. "And I've been reading it for the last hour or so."

"Okay?" Charlie trailed off, wondering exactly why Sydney was telling her this.

"This one's for you." Sydney stated and stepped into the room, extending the book towards Charlie, who took it without hesitation. "I think we all need to read it, we all need to figure out what the hell these things are. I told the twins that whoever was done reading it first was supposed to start googling these guys."

"Oh!" Charlie's eyes widened at her alpha's plan. Yes, Sydney definitely had a good head on her shoulders. "Yeah, that's good."

"I made an extra copy too, it's downstairs if you know anyone that you think should see it." Sydney remarked and a smirk grew on her face. Bruin shifted slightly in her grasp and Sydney readjusted her hold on the baby. "There's an envelope down on the counter too, you can grab some money out of my wallet for postage to France."

"Syd, no, you didn't have to do that." Charlie murmured and ran her fingers over the front of the stack of papers. "Why?"

"Well, I just think that maybe with all the talking you to do, you can maybe discuss this book and come up with some decent theories." Sydney teased and Charlie nodded her understanding. Two heads _were_ better than one when it came to the supernatural, and since she spent a _lot_ of time talking to Isaac, it would give them something relevant to talk about. "Plus he's got connections to people who know a lot more about this supernatural stuff than I do."

"Like who?"

"Well Chris Argent sent him over to France, I assume they still keep in touch." Sydney explained.

"Right, the hunter. Fair point." Charlie tipped her head to the side. "Thanks."

"Yeah, well, I know how important he is to you, Isaac I mean, I just want you to be happy so I'll do whatever I can to make that happen. Just let me know if you need anything else okay, I'm going to put Bruin down and maybe take a shower."

Charlie nodded her understanding and Sydney lingered in her room for another couple of seconds before giving Charlie a quick pat on the shoulder. She took off for the hall and when Sydney was no longer in her room, Charlie let out a sigh.

This was good, this had to be good. She would send Isaac a copy of the book and then maybe together they could figure out what the hell was going on, or at the very least, maybe they could figure out a piece of what was happening.

Without hesitating for a second, Charlie grabbed her notebook from the corner of the desk, flipped it open to the middle and ripped out a piece of paper. Taking hold of her discarded pen, she scrawled Isaac a note reading 'just in case you were legitimately thinking of coming here, this is what we're dealing with' and then signed her name.

With a smile on her face, she took the note in her hand and raced downstairs. The sooner she could send off the package, the quicker she and Isaac could talk about the book and the eerie contents inside.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**


	28. Chapter 28

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 28** **:**_

Charlie hadn't let the book leave her clutches since Sydney had given her a copy but that didn't mean she was going to be pulling it out at every chance she got. She hadn't made it too far into it, not with the constant distractions and late night video chat sessions with Isaac.

Truthfully, she welcomed the distractions with open arms. There was a part of her that was terrified of reading the book, scared that whatever was hidden in its pages would come back to haunt her and after hearing from Stiles and the pack that the book was supposed to induce some pretty horrific memories, she wasn't ready to jump into the novel, not in the slightest.

She wanted to talk to Sydney about it too, she wanted to know if Sydney had finished it, and if she had, was she going through the freaky memory recollection phase just like the rest of the people who had finished it? How would that even work with her alpha though, as if Sydney didn't have enough to worry about with baby Bruin and the intense symptoms of her withdrawal from Peter, now there was the lingering threat of having some horrific repressed memory coming to surface.

Charlie knew all about the hardships that Sydney had faced in her life, she had been in the house when hunters had slaughtered her parents, and Sydney had seemed pretty adamant about calling it a slaughter. She couldn't even begin to imagine the traumatizing effects a scene like that would have on a child and even though Sydney seemed fairly put together at this point in her life, it didn't mean she was totally okay.

So yes, there was part of Charlie that didn't _want_ to read the book, she didn't _want_ to involve herself mentally with the Dread Doctors. If it worked the way Stiles claimed it did: after finishing the book, the repressed memory came back; well Charlie didn't want to finish the book at all. She wanted to keep her repressed memories just that: repressed. They were stored in the deep recesses of her mind for a reason and giving those memories the ability to potentially change her life, or what she knew of it, wasn't appealing in the least.

She envied Mason and Liam because they hadn't been given a copy, they had been lucky enough to have been left out of the whole, freaky ordeal and maybe that's precisely what Charlie wanted.

Sitting in the bleachers beside Brett, who was sitting beside Mason, she looked down at the photocopied book residing on her lap. Her hands were pressed palm down against the eerie cover, hiding the fear-inducing picture of the very Dread Doctors that were haunting Beacon Hills. She still hadn't managed to get much further than the first twenty or so pages and she didn't think she'd ever be able to get there.

Isaac had been rather supportive, he had claimed that she knew what was best for her and she had appreciated his words of comfort. At the same time, she had sent him a copy of the very same book and told him that he should read it, even going as far as to explain to him why Scott and the pack were reading it.

"Kira was having trouble reading it too." Mason stated, breaking into Charlie's thoughts and drawing her attention towards him. He had a sweet, encouraging smile on his face and Charlie pressed her lips together, not really sure who else she had at that very minute to talk to about what was going through her head.

"Really?" Charlie asked and turned to the side slightly, looking past Brett.

"Yeah, but it's because she's a kitsune." Mason explained and Charlie furrowed her eyebrows together, clearly confused as to what that had to do with her reading a book. "The book, at least to her, is a giant confusing language trick."

"Oh." Charlie glanced down at the pieces of the cover she could see through the cracks in her fingers. "Every time I look at the picture on the cover, I just get confused and scared."

"How come?" Brett broke in and Charlie leaned back on the bench seat, sucking in a breath in order to prepare herself for her confession.

"I just replay what happened at the club over and over in my head, I see Lucas laying on the ground breathing one second and then the next he's got the arrow in his chest…I just…I don't know, it freaks me out still."

"To know that there are those _things_ out there?" Brett pressed and she gave him a halfhearted shrug.

"Up until I came here I had a relatively decent life, I mean, the biggest threats I ever had to worry about were other werewolves and hunters and now I'm here and there's- there's _things_ out there creating supernatural creatures that don't follow the supernatural rules. It makes me nervous, really nervous." Charlie admitted and let out a small sigh. "How do you two stay so calm?"

"Well, for starters, I have faith in my pack." Brett pointed out with a small smile meant to reassure Charlie, and it did, a little bit, because she did have faith in her own pack, but at the same time, this was something that Sydney hadn't encountered before either. The twins were oblivious too and while she had complete faith in the fact that she'd be protected no matter what, she also knew that Sydney was a new mother, she had a baby to take care of first and foremost, which meant that she was distracted.

Distractions, those were something that Charlie was welcoming more often than not recently too. Maybe Sydney was trying to do the same thing, maybe Sydney was trying to keep herself from thinking too much about what was going on and focusing more on the things she _could_ handle, like trying to keep everyone in her pack safe and under watch.

At the thought of her shadow trailing along after her, she couldn't help but smile. Ethan was lurking somewhere around the lacrosse field, hidden within the brush and trees, blending in so as not to be seen. At least she had someone constantly watching her back so even if bad things did start happening to her, she wouldn't be alone in the matter, which definitely counted for something.

"Scott, according to Liam, is pretty good at this stuff too. He's a true alpha, right, so maybe we should have faith in him too." Mason added and Charlie nodded her understanding. She looked out onto the field and spotted Liam with a lacrosse stick in his hand, practicing his shooting as he took shots on the net.

"I guess all we can do then is keep an eye out for anything unusual, that's what Scott said, isn't it?" Charlie countered and thought back to the brief conversation she had had with Scott and Stiles when she had arrived at school that morning. Yes, she was supposed to keep an eye out for anything that seemed weird, which wasn't as easy as it sounded.

"I think the term was abnormal, but it's the same thing in my eyes." Mason smiled at her and Charlie let her body relax the tiniest bit. She was good for the time being, she was with Brett, who was a born wolf in his own right, and Mason, who was smarter that he got credit for. Liam was also not more than fifty yards away from her, if anything funky was going to happen to her, she wasn't alone, and that wasn't even mentioning Ethan, who was lurking within hearing distance.

"Right." Charlie smiled right back but never moved her palms away from the cover of the book. "Well I haven't seen anything completely out of the ordinary, but then again, I've been distracted. What about you Brett?"

"Yeah, have you noticed anyone abnormal at your school?" Mason threw in. The two of them looked right at him and Charlie even shifted slightly closer to him on the bench. She wasn't sure what exactly she was doing but she figured that if she could get a little closer to him, then maybe she'd be able to feel even the tiniest bit better, after all, there was definitely safety in numbers.

"I don't know, dude, everyone at Devenford is pretty abnormal to me." Brett replied nonchalantly.

"All right." Mason quipped and lifted his hands up in front of him. "What else is there to look for? There's heightened strength, smell, hearing, speed-"

"Uh, able to see in the dark." Brett broke in and with each point that Mason and Brett listed, Mason counted it off on his fingers.

"Superhuman strength." Charlie mumbled. "Sketchy black eyes."

" _Glowing_ eyes." Mason added and Charlie nodded her head along with him. Oh yes, the glowing eyes, just like hers, just like Sydney's and Kira's, almost everyone seemed to have _glowing_ eyes.

"Eyes that reflect the light." Brett tossed out.

"Visible scorpion stingers protruding out of limbs?" Mason stressed this particular point and Charlie looked at him, tossing him a sympathetic smile. If Brett had been even seconds later getting to Mason that night he was attacked at the club, well, Charlie didn't really like to think about what could've happened, she just knew that she was damn happy that he mingled with werewolves, especially one as capable as Brett Talbot.

"Yeah, or three foot lizard tails." Brett's tone was bordering on joking and if Charlie wasn't so rattled over the entire ordeal, she might've laughed along with the two boys. Right now, she was too concerned, too freaked out to find humour in the situation.

"How are you two so calm about this?" Charlie piped up but still kept her voice low, fearful that someone else might hear her.

"I was cornered by a berserker a few months back, my best friend is a werewolf." Mason answered and shot Charlie a reassuring look. "I've got you two with me right now."

"Me?" Charlie shot back and lifted a finger up to point at herself. "You think I know what the hell I'm doing?"

"I know that when we were in the club, you were right there willing to fight, to protect me and Brett and put a stop to whatever the hell Lucas was." Mason remarked, rendering Charlie speechless.

While she had been ready to fight and do whatever she needed to do to stop it, she hadn't planned on any of it, that was just what came naturally to her. Sydney had taught her, as well as the twins, everything she knew before they had all packed up and come to Beacon Hills, she had shaped Charlie's skills into what they were, and with that shaping came a boost of confidence. Knowing what she did at that moment, having been taught the things that Sydney had shown her, gave her an advantage, at least in comparison to what she had known before meeting Sydney.

"So was Liam, and Scott too." Charlie pointed out and dropped her hand back down to the stack of photocopied papers residing in her lap.

"Yeah, right, Liam." Mason chuckled. "When he wasn't too busy making eyes at Hayden."

Mason motioned towards the field and Charlie didn't say a word to anyone as she watched carefully. Liam would gather up a lacrosse ball with his stick and take a shot at the net, then he'd look over to Hayden, who was kicking soccer balls around. She'd meet his eye, line up a shot on the soccer net and send the ball flying right into the back of the net. The two of them repeated this process two or three more times before Charlie shook her head with a scoff.

It wasn't until Liam took a shot so hard at the net that he knocked the goalie over that either one of them broke their stony composures. Liam rushed for his teammate, who was lying on his back inside the net.

"Sorry." Liam called out, still moving for his fallen comrade.

Charlie fought off the urge to snort in amusement and when Brett spoke, breaking their silence, she looked back over towards the two boys sitting beside her.

"What's up with those two?" Brett asked, giving a nod in the direction of the field. Apparently Charlie hadn't been the only one watching the competition going on in front of her.

"Sixth grade, that's not the best year for Liam's anger management issues. There was a-this fight in the hallways, Liam and this other guy. Hayden sort of accidentally walked into it." Mason began explaining and produced his phone, holding it up and flipping through the apps. He pulled up a digital version of the yearbook from Mason and Liam's sixth grade year and flipped through until he found precisely what he was looking for. "And this is her yearbook photo."

Charlie covered her mouth to hide her smile at the sight of the younger version of the soccer playing girl with the bandages covering her nose. It was certainly bruised and battered and most likely broken and if that had been Charlie, she wouldn't have been too kind to Liam after that either.

"Ah, damn." Brett chuckled and Mason could no longer contain the giant smile. There was more coming and whatever it involved, Charlie knew it was going to be entertaining.

"Yeah." Mason nodded.

"Ow. What did she do to him?" Brett countered, asking the very question that Charlie wanted to know the answer too. She definitely wouldn't have let him get away with that if she was Hayden, but then again, she wasn't the type of person who sat by and let people get away with hurting her, especially not now that she was part of Sydney's pack and staying in Beacon Hills.

Mason lifted his finger up and flitted it across the screen sideways, revealing a similar picture of a young boy with similar bandages covering his bruised and battered nose. Huh, well Hayden had just gained a few points in Charlie's books.

Brett just took in the sight of little Liam with a busted up nose and laughed at the sight, Mason soon joining in. Charlie shook her head in amusement but glanced out onto the field, her eyes finding Liam immediately.

She didn't even have time to laugh along with Brett and Mason as the sight of a guy running onto the field. She didn't need to hear him to know he was panicked, the scent of him wafting through the air was enough to send her muscles into a rigidity that she was familiar with. This wasn't good, something was direly wrong.

"Does anyone here have asthma? Anyone got an inhaler?" The guy yelled and Charlie scrambled to her feet, Brett and Mason following her lead, but she wasn't concerned about them, no, at that moment, she was too distracted by the sight of Liam taking off for the school.

"What the hell?" Mason asked and made a move to step down, over the bench in front of him. Brett followed Mason's lead and the two of them paused on the level below, looking back up at Charlie, who was watching where Liam had disappeared from.

"He said 'Scott'." She murmured and clutched the Dread Doctors book against her chest.

"You heard that?" Mason asked and leaned in closer to her.

"Uh, yeah, he said…he said it." Charlie replied back hesitantly and Brett gently placed his hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I have to check on him, I have to make sure Scott's okay."

Mason gave her a nod of understanding and she bee lined it down the bleachers, taking them as quickly as she could and when her feet hit solid ground, she broke out into a run, desperate to find out if it was, in fact, Scott that was in trouble. If it was, she wanted to make sure he was okay because if he wasn't, that would mean that someone out there had figured out a way to harm a true alpha and that thought alone terrified her.

She heard Mason and Brett's footfalls behind her as she ran and when she hit the doors to the school, she slowed down and took in the sight of the panicked crowd filling the halls.

It was evident that these kids weren't that well versed in emergency situations, but that didn't matter to Charlie, she threw her elbows up and began making her way through the crowd, forcing her body between other students in a dire attempt to catch sight of Scott.

When she finally locked her nose on him and found herself outside of the classroom where Scott was, sitting on the floor struggling to breathe, she paused and held her breath, hoping that by sheer force of will she could get him to be okay. She continued to watch, listening carefully as Liam said soothing things to him, offering him an inhaler that he had in his hands.

She caught a brief glance of Liam's glowing golden wolf eyes and that was what brought Scott back, that was what broke the spell and with a giant gasp for air, Scott regained his ability to focus, his eyes locked right on Liam.

She let out a sigh of relief and turned on her heels, leaving Scott and Liam to their own devices. So long as she knew that Scott was alive, that he was okay, then that was all that mattered for now. Later she'd worry about what happened, she'd try to find out what Scott had gone through, but at that moment, she wanted to go home, she wanted to see her alpha and the twins and Bruin, but she also wanted to call Isaac and school certainly wasn't a place that warranted enough privacy for that.

With a brief pause to wave her goodbyes to Mason and Brett, she continued right on outside and towards the parking lot where, once again, she had gained possession of Sydney's car for the day.

It wouldn't be too much longer until she was back at home and she'd deal with missing classes and talking to Sydney about it after. For right now, she just needed to be with her pack.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

"You're home early." Sydney remarked with a smile as Charlie entered the front door of the house. "Me and Aidan were just about to head outside to the backyard, care to join us?"

"Wait, you're not going to ask me why I'm home early?" Charlie stared at her alpha and wondered what sort of game Sydney was trying to play with her. If she was dealing with her own dad, she would've expected him to demand a reasonable explanation as to why she was skipping classes and coming home early, but Sydney seemed to be in good spirits, she even had a bright smile on her face, so why the hell wasn't she concerned about why Charlie was home already?

"I assume you'll tell me when we get settled in outside." Sydney shrugged at her and Aidan wandered into the kitchen carrying Bruin in his arms. He had a blanket draped over his shoulder, a blanket big enough for the two of them to sit on in the grass outside, and at the sight of Charlie, he smiled at her.

"Really?"

"It's Beacon Hills Charlie, weird things happen, I get it if you feel the need to leave school, so long as you don't fail any of your classes-"

"Really?" Charlie asked again and continued to stare at Sydney, who wandered towards Aidan and gently lifted Bruin out of his arms and let her settle into her mother's hold.

"Well what do you want me to do? I could ground you but you're my in with Scott's pack." Sydney pointed out with a teasing smile. "Well I guess I could punish you by taking away your computer or phone or something but I know that you and Isaac do _sometimes_ talk about the supernatural problems we have here."

"When you're not too busy making kissy faces at each other in your video chats." Aidan laughed and moved the blanket off his shoulders and held it in his hands. "Come on, let's go outside, if you're home, that means Ethan will be here shortly and I could use some training."

Charlie nodded her understanding and dropped her book bag down to the floor. Aidan was right and before they had even made it to the back door, Ethan had come strolling into the house, heading right for the fridge and grabbing an apple to snack on. He followed suit and wandered out into the backyard with the rest of the pack and once Aidan had spread the blanket out over the grass, Sydney sat down, Bruin still in her hold, before Charlie dropped down to sit next to her.

Ethan crouched down and pressed a kiss against Bruin's head, eliciting a coo from the baby and a laugh from Sydney, before Aidan came up to stand behind him, squaring up his shoulders and glaring at him.

"Finish the apple and then your ass is grass." Aidan growled and Ethan shook his head in disbelief.

" _Your_ ass is grass," Ethan shot back, "and I'm going to mow it!"

"You two are bad at that." Sydney piped up and chuckled at their failed attempts at smack talk. "Maybe you should practice being intimidating with your words while you kick the shit out of each other, huh?"

Ethan rolled his eyes at his alpha but stood up, turning around to face his brother. Aidan merely grinned at him and took off in a jog towards the edge of the yard, stopping a few inches inside of the mountain ash barrier. Ethan continued to eat away at the apple as he moseyed over towards his brother, leaving the girls sitting on the blanket.

Sydney went ahead and gingerly set Bruin down on her back on the blanket, then she carefully moved to lay down next to her, her fingers immediately going for the baby's tiny feet. Charlie remained sitting but looked down at her alpha and Bruin, watching in awe at the sight of how utterly peaceful Sydney looked at that very second.

"Have you finished the book yet?" Charlie asked, breaking the silence between them and drawing Sydney's eyes towards her.

"Uh, no. I keep trying but it's like every time I go to pick the book up to get past the halfway mark, Bruin just freaks out and starts screaming. By the time I get her settled down I just feel like resting, then it all happens again. At this point in time, I've given up, for right now. Have you finished it?"

"I'm on like page twenty." Charlie confessed with an embarrassed expression.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, it uh, it freaks me out. I don't want to read anymore."

Sydney scrunched her nose up at her beta but forced a smile onto her face, "it's pretty freaky, right?"

"Yeah!" Charlie gasped. "I mean, I don't know, I saw those Dread Doctors at the club, I watched them kill Lucas without a second thought and now I'm supposed to read a book about them that has the potential to unlock some repressed memory of mine. No thank you."

Sydney rolled onto her back and turned her head to the side so that it was right next to Bruin. Charlie reached out and gently took hold of the baby's hands, letting her tiny fingers wrap about her larger ones.

"That part freaks me out too, the whole repressed memory thing. I have some pretty fucked up memories as it is, I can't even begin to imagine how bad a memory would be if I had to actually repress it, you know?" Sydney asked with a knowing look. "You don't have to explain anything to me, some things should just stay hidden, right?"

Charlie nodded her head yes and peered out at the twins, who were wrestling on the grass a good twenty feet from the blanket. Sydney shook her head at her betas antics but kept her eyes trained on Bruin, even going as far as to bring out her alpha red irises. Charlie turned her attention to Bruin and watched the baby's eyes carefully, leaning in closer at the sight of a tiny flicker of red flashing through Bruin's eyes.

"Is that new?" Charlie asked and quickly laid down on Bruin's other side, turning her head to look at Sydney _and_ Bruin, who's eyes were back to her usual brown but with a slight golden tinge to the edges.

"Maybe, I noticed it last night but I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me." Sydney answered with a sigh. "I was thinking I might call your dad tonight and ask him about it, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a fluke."

"No, it's not, I definitely saw red in her eyes. It wasn't like yours but there was definitely a bit of red there." Charlie tossed out and continued to let Bruin play with her fingers. "Didn't you say that your mom was an alpha?"

"Yeah, before I can remember though."

"Okay, and you're an alpha now." Charlie remarked and Sydney nodded her head yes. "Well Peter's a pretty powerful werewolf."

"As are most Hales." Sydney teased.

"Then would it be so farfetched to think that maybe your kid has the potential to be an alpha too?"

Sydney stared at Charlie and thought about what she had said. Maybe it _was_ possible that Bruin would be an alpha one day, but that didn't really explain why there was a lingering hint of red in her eyes when she was still a teeny tiny baby. Maybe Steve would have answers, maybe, like human babies, eye colour was something that babies could grow out of, or _into_?

"Peter doesn't just make werewolves remember?" Charlie jeered and Sydney sucked in a nervous breath.

"Yeah but a baby alpha?" Sydney shot back, clearly very skeptical about the whole theory. "I don't know, maybe there's a reasonable explanation, maybe your dad will know."

"Maybe." Charlie offered up with a shrug. "Until then, I wouldn't worry too much about it, we have creepy Dread Doctors who are turning teenagers into freaky chimeras, I think that takes top priority."

"It definitely does." Sydney nodded her agreement. "Is that why you came home? Did you find another chimera?"

"No, no but Scott had an asthma attack and I just, I needed to come home, I need to be with my pack." Charlie countered. "I'm scared."

"I know." Sydney murmured and peered up at Charlie briefly before looking back at Bruin. "I understand. Why don't you go and try to call Isaac? He calms you down, doesn't he?"

Charlie nodded her head and a small smile spread out over her face, "sometimes, other times you do."

"Well, I'm probably just going to fall asleep on this blanket here, so I give you full permission to talk to Isaac, so long as you two are being safe." Sydney laughed and Charlie shook her head in disbelief.

"We're a million miles away, we can't even _do_ anything Syd."

"Hey, computers can still get viruses." Sydney continued to laugh and Charlie relaxed on the blanket for just a little while longer. Isaac could wait, being beside Sydney while the twins sparred not too far away was too good of a thing to give up just yet.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: well they're certainly going to TRY and read the book lol, so far, they're not having much luck. Isaac, oh Isaac, how could anyone ever forget about him ;)_**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: I totally understand where you're coming from and I promise you that things will definitely be picking up for Sydney, it's just super hard to incorporate her into all the weird things that happen at the high school. I really, really, appreciate your review and thank you so much!_**


	29. Chapter 29

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 29** **:**_

By the time Sydney realized what the hell was going on with her heartbeat, and more specifically why it was suddenly so erratic, she wasn't sure what to do or where to go. Bruin was promptly tucked away in her crib in the corner of Sydney's bedroom but by the slight cooing noises erupting from the baby's bed, she knew that Bruin wasn't sleeping, not yet anyways, but did that mean that Sydney was going to have to ignore the pounding of her heart in her chest?

She gathered up her bearings, nabbed a jacket out of the closet in her room and darted across the hall, hoping to find Charlie precisely where she had left her earlier. When she knocked on the door and then proceeded to poke her head inside, she spotted Charlie sitting on the chair in front of her desk talking to none other than Isaac Lahey.

"You okay?" Charlie's attention was on her immediately, even Isaac was attempting to look in Sydney's direction, which was proving to be difficult considering he was merely a moving image on the screen.

"Uh, no, no I don't think so." Sydney shook her head frantically and prayed that Charlie held answers.

"I can hear your heart pounding from here, what's going on?" Charlie pressed and Sydney straightened up, even going as far as to run her hands down the front of her jacket, smoothing out any wrinkles there.

"I think- I think it might be Stiles again." Sydney managed to get out, her voice choppy and laced with panic.

"Like the other night, when he was being attacked, that sort of thing?" Charlie leaned forward on the chair and turned her head to meet Isaac's eyes for a split second before her attention was right back on her alpha. "Did you try calling him?"

"No answer." Sydney shook her head and sucked in a giant breath, hoping to calm her still pounding heart down to a relatively normal rhythm.

Charlie lifted her hand up and indicated to Sydney that she just needed a second, then she proceeded to flash Isaac a smile before he gave her a nod of understanding. His video chat closed first on his end and Charlie immediately followed suit, launching herself to her feet once the lid of the laptop was shut tight.

"He texted me a little while ago to let me know him and Lydia were going to the hospital, we can try there if you want?" Charlie offered and nabbed her own jacket off the back of her computer chair. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and lifted her phone off the desk, tucking it into one of the pockets on the jacket.

"We?"

"Yes, if Stiles is in trouble, I'm going with you, especially after last time." Charlie stated firmly and Sydney couldn't exactly disagree with the girl.

This time her heart was beating significantly harder than the last, which meant that Stiles was more scared and upset than he would've been if it was something similar to the last time she rushed to his side. Maybe having Charlie with her would be a good idea, which meant that she'd have to ask the twins to look after Bruin while they were both gone.

"Fine." Sydney relented and Charlie broke out into a smile. "But you stay right by my side and don't stray, got it?"

"Got it." Charlie beamed back at her and moved forward, rushing out of the room as Sydney turned towards the hall.

The two of them walked down the hall side by side and when they got to the stairs, they descended them at the same time, matching each other's movement step by step. Once they hit the bottom, Charlie took off for the front door while Sydney veered towards the living room, easily catching the attention of the twins as soon as she got near them.

Aidan and Ethan were both sitting on the couch, the printed out pages of their bestiary scattered across the coffee table, while Ethan held a few pages in his hand, his eyes had been scanning over the words until Sydney walked in. Aidan watched his alpha get closer and when she leaned down on the back of the couch, her head in between theirs, he smiled at her.

"Heard you and Charlie are taking a trip." Aidan remarked casually and motioned towards the ceiling above him, implying that he had heard most of the conversation the two girls had had upstairs.

"Can you keep an eye on Bruin until we get back?" Sydney asked right back, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Of course." Aidan nodded his head and Ethan gave her an encouraging smile before he set the pages on the table in front of him and made his way to his feet. Sydney watched as Ethan rounded the end couch and disappeared up the stairs, apparently he was already on looking after Bruin because she heard him move into her room, the cooing noises getting louder as she assumed he picked her up.

"I don't know how long we'll be." Sydney pointed out and Aidan shrugged at her.

"No worries, you got to do what you got to do. I know how important Stiles is, I know that you and him are connected in some strange way but I get it. Just be careful, okay?"

Sydney gave him a nod of her head, patted him on the shoulder and turned towards the front door, where Charlie was already standing with the car keys in her hand. Sucking in a breath, Sydney headed for her female beta, pausing only to throw Ethan, who was coming down the stairs with Bruin in his arms, a reassuring smile.

If all went okay, then she wouldn't be gone for much longer than an hour, it was a simple mission, to find Stiles and make sure he was okay, then she'd rush right home to take over looking after her very own daughter.

In the back of her mind though, she knew that it wouldn't be that easy, it was never easy, they were in Beacon Hills for crying out loud, which was a great disadvantage in itself.

Sydney gently nudged Charlie out the front and pulled the door shut behind them. She let Charlie keep the keys, fearing that her heart was pounding too hard to drive safely, and together they climbed into the car and took off for whatever awaited them at the hospital.

Charlie settled into the driver's seat once they were on the road, she seemed relaxed enough but Sydney could hear it in her heartbeat that she was a little bit excited and anxious for whatever they might find at the hospital. It didn't help that Charlie smelled like fear, but then again Sydney had to have faith in her. She had a hand in training the girl, she knew her capabilities, if something bad was about to go down at the hospital, then there was no doubt in Sydney's mind that Charlie would fight with everything she had.

"Just for future reference, if you ever want to hunt down Stiles, I'm always game." Charlie stated, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. Sydney turned her attention to Charlie and took in the sight of her simply driving the car.

"You care about him too?" Sydney questioned but quickly turned her head forward, her eyes locking on the road in front of them.

"Of course I do. Aside from the fact that he's important to you, he's actually a good friend to me and I think he's one of the smartest guys here." Charlie countered and Sydney found herself smiling almost proudly because of Stiles. "I know he killed Donovan."

"Does anyone else know that?"

"I don't think so." Charlie shook her head. "I think he's afraid of what everyone else will think. You and I know that he's not just going to hurt someone out of spite though, so I guess, no matter what, I'm on his side."

"And what about Theo, do you trust Theo?" Sydney pressed, hoping for a little more insight into her beta's mind. It wasn't like her and Charlie never talked to each other but Sydney knew that there were a few subjects that neither girl was keen on bringing up.

Theo seemed like one of those topics and Sydney figured it was because she didn't fully understand what to do about him. She knew he could go full wolf, according to Ethan who had apparently seen it, which meant that something funny was going on with him, but there _could_ be an explanation, right? Derek was also able to go full wolf and he wasn't an alpha, except he was part of a well-known bloodline, a powerful bloodline at that, was that reason enough to explain his abilities? If that _was_ the case, was Theo also part of a powerful bloodline, or was there more to him than anyone knew?

She still didn't trust the kid and yet she had never actually met him officially. Stiles didn't trust him and she trusted Stiles, but at the same time, it wasn't like Theo had done anything to anyone to breach the belief that he was an okay guy.

"I don't know." Charlie answered. "I don't know Theo, I can't really get a read on the guy but from what I've seen, he's done nothing but try and be helpful. I just wish I knew more about him, you know?"

"Oh, definitely." Sydney forced a smile onto her face, watching as Charlie navigated through the streets of Beacon Hills. She knew she was approaching the hospital but that didn't sate her worry, not even the slightest bit. Whatever was happening to Stiles, whatever he was going through, felt like it was worsening.

Sydney's muscles tensed as Charlie pulled into the parking lot and her heart hammered so hard against her chest that she feared it would burst right out of her ribcage. When the car came to a complete stop, Sydney whipped the door open, scrambled out and slammed the door behind her as she marched right for the front doors of the hospital.

"I can smell him!" Charlie called out from behind her and came running up, falling in stride next to her. "I think he's-"

"The roof." Sydney cut in and glanced over at Charlie, quickly gaging her reaction. Charlie never missed a beat though and when Sydney broke out into a mad dash, Charlie followed suit, the two of them heading right for the nearest elevator.

When the lights flickered, Charlie froze but only for a second, and that's when she heard it, the weird mechanical clicking combined with an eerie buzzing and she knew, oh how she knew, that she had heard that sound before.

Charlie bypassed the elevator and ripped the door to the stairs open, frantically waving Sydney inside but Sydney paused in front of the metal doors to the elevator and stared at Charlie.

"Syd, they're here." Charlie hissed at her and let a low growl erupt from her throat.

"What?"

"The dread doctors, they're _here_. Can't you hear that weird buzzing sound?"

"The clicking?" Sydney's eyes seemed to bug out of her head but Charlie nodded her head yes furiously. "That's what they sound like?"

"Yes now come on, let's go!" Charlie wailed and Sydney darted towards Charlie, letting her beta fall in behind her as the two of them began mounting the stairs as fast as possible.

Not another word was shared between them, not as Sydney focused all of her strength on getting to Stiles, not while Charlie had her ears tuned in, listening for hints of the dread doctors being nearby. When the two of them reached the very top of the stairs, Sydney burst through the door and broke out into a jog, looking every which way she could, Charlie following right behind her, the two of them searching for Stiles.

"This way." Sydney commanded and veered to the left slightly and as soon as she had taken not more than five steps, she spotted Stiles crouched down, leaning against the side of a short concrete wall.

Charlie moved past Sydney and ran right for Stiles, dropping down to crouch next to him as she locked her eyes on Theo, who was standing over someone she wasn't familiar with. The kid below him looked feral and dangerous and when Theo pressed his clawed fingers into the boy's neck, Charlie knew exactly what was going on, this kid was another one of the dread doctor's sick creations.

When the kid's throat exploded into a burst of blood, Charlie winced but Sydney apparently had another idea in mind. She launched herself right at Theo, her own claws coming out as she backed him away from the dead kid on the roof. When Theo's hands came up to try and stop her from hurting him, Sydney let out a growl and forced her razor sharp canines out, baring them for him to see, making sure he _knew_ that she was not someone he wanted to mess with.

"Syd!" Stiles screamed for her and she turned her head back to look at him, spotting the scared look in his eyes and freezing in her tracks. "Syd stop!"

Sydney laid off Theo and planted her hands on her hips but she leveled him with a glare that pinned him in place.

"What the hell happened?!" She demanded and Charlie helped Stiles to his feet, the two of them remaining where they stood. "Someone explain this to me because there's obviously something I'm not getting!"

"This is Theo." Charlie motioned towards the boy that Sydney had backed up and pinned away from Stiles. "He's the one I've been telling you about."

"The _asshole_ you guys keep telling me about!?" Sydney roared, clearly still very angry at the entire situation. When Stiles nodded his head yes, she snarled.

"Wait, who are you?" Theo broke in, not daring to make any sudden movements for fear that Sydney would attack him yet again.

"I'm the woman who looks out for-"

"Syd!" Stiles cut her off, desperate to diffuse the situation. "Syd I got this, okay?"

"Stiles can you call off your guard dog?" Theo requested and Charlie's lips turned up into a smirk. " _Please_?"

Stiles looked from Theo to Sydney and when Charlie gently set her hand on his shoulder, he relaxed the tiniest little bit. Whether or not he was expecting anyone to come to his rescue, they were right there with him and neither girl was about to let anything hurt Stiles, even if it meant that Sydney was going to go after the only other person on the roof that had been aiding Stiles before they even showed up.

"Syd, it's fine." Stiles said, his tone clearly laced with defeat. Whatever had happened before she and Charlie arrived had been pretty bad, as was evident by the carnage left on the roof.

Sydney let her arms relax and she let her body return to its normal stature, instead of the rigid way she had been since she stepped onto the roof. She narrowed her eyes in on Theo and watched him carefully as she took a step backwards, putting more space between her and him.

"I'd hate to hurt her." Theo remarked nonchalantly and Sydney's eyes turned the deep, fiery red of an alpha, Theo barely even flinching. "I'm not here to fight you."

"Oh yeah, well I've still got a _lot_ of fight left in me." Sydney retorted. "Maybe somebody needs to put you back into your place, who better to do that than an alpha?"

"You don't scare me." Theo stated and she jerked her head forward, watching as he twitched the slightest little bit at her movement. "Whatever you're trying to do, it doesn't matter anyways, I'm not here to hurt Stiles, I'm not-"

"Then what the fuck are you even doing here? Why are you on this roof?" Sydney ground the words out through clenched teeth.

"Helping me." Stiles said, breaking in with a frustrated sigh. "He was helping me."

Theo seemed to look from Sydney to Stiles, and then to the body lying motionless on the roof. Sydney relaxed her features even more and let her wolf completely retreat, but she continued to glare at Theo, trying to make him understand that she was way more intimidating, and threatening, than he could ever imagine. If the time came in the future when Theo crossed her, for whatever reason, she wasn't going to let him away as easily. He was going to hurt, he was going to be in pain, but for right now, there were definitely more pressing matters.

"Stiles, you can't say anything. Please, don't say anything." Theo pleaded and once he stole a look at Sydney, he stepped forward, getting closer to Stiles, which immediately elicited a growl from Sydney.

"Why not?" Stiles countered and shot Sydney a reassuring look. She could tell that he was trying to let her know that he had this under control but she wasn't about to back down, not completely. Charlie remained next to Stiles, which was a huge comfort in itself, at least if Charlie was right next to him, Theo wouldn't be able to get the upper hand.

"Because I never said anything about Donovan." Theo stated and Stiles' eyes widened slightly at his admission. "I know what happened to Donovan, I know everything."

Stiles charged across the roof before anyone could even get a handle on what he was about to do. His hands fisted in the shoulders of Theo's shirt and he forced the werewolf backwards until he was pressed up against the chain link fence, which was surrounding a constant explosion of sparks.

Sydney glanced over at Charlie but shook her head at Stiles' reaction. This was precisely why she didn't like Theo, whether she knew him or not, it didn't matter. If Stiles wasn't a fan of the infamous Theo, well then neither was she.

"You don't know anything." Stiles countered rather calmly considering the circumstances.

Theo reached out, grabbed Stiles by the upper arm and spun him around so that his back was the one pressed against the chain link fence. As soon as Theo had gained the upper hand, Sydney's lip curled back and she brought her sharp canines out once more, before following it up with a loud growl. She was still trying to convey to Theo that she wasn't playing, Stiles was someone she'd protect, at all costs, and the sooner he recognized that, the sooner everyone could part ways and go home. There was no way he got to manhandle the human, not without some sort of consequences.

"I was there, I was at the library. Malia found the book, she was texting us to see where you were, she said she left you at the library, I told her I was close. When I got there, I heard the scaffolding come down." Theo went on to explain and Sydney's eyes never left his form as he held Stiles against the metal fence. She didn't sense that Stiles was too worried, not just yet, plus Theo was divulging information and there was no doubt in her mind that it had the potential to be important.

"You saw him?" Stiles questioned, confused as to what Theo was talking about and how the kid had known about what had happened at the library, seeing as Stiles had claimed he was the only one there.

When he had told Sydney about what he had gone through, there was no mention of anyone else being there, aside from Donovan and the deputy who had been there to check things out. Surely _someone_ would've noticed Theo if he _was_ there, Stiles wasn't the type of person to leave details like that out, no, he was meticulous, rightly so.

"Just the body." Theo corrected and relinquished his hold on Stiles, who was no longer being held against the fencing. Theo's voice was calmer than it had been seconds ago and Sydney merely stood her ground and kept her eyes trained on him, mentally daring him to make another bad move. "I watched you come out. I was going to say something, but then I saw the cop car…and the body was gone."

"You better be careful of the next words you choose to come out of your mouth." Sydney snarled and moved her hands up, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't take too kindly to people accusing Stiles of things they don't understand."

"Syd, it's okay." Stiles piped up and took a few steps towards her, setting his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

"Look, I don't know who took him, I only saw what you saw, and I didn't say anything because you didn't." Theo remarked. The sound of sirens sounded out in the cool night air and even Charlie moved closer to Sydney too, hoping that her alpha would tell her what the plan was now that they knew Stiles was okay. "That's not an ambulance, is it?"

Stiles shook his head no and moved his hand away from Sydney's shoulder. She relaxed her arms and let them dangle at her sides, wondering what exactly they were supposed to do with a dead supernatural creature who was clearly more than just human. The kid's claws were still present on his hands and his teeth, where there should only have been one row on both the top and bottom, were plentiful and sharp.

"I think we need to go." Charlie murmured and Sydney gave the girl a slight nod of her head.

"We should get out of here."

"We can't just leave him." Stiles argued and waved to the body on the roof. Sydney gave him a nod too, leveled Theo with one last glare and made a move to crouch down next to the dead kid.

"Fine. All right, let's take him. Someone's stealing the bodies anyway, right? Here's our chance to find out who. Stiles, come on. We've got to do something." Theo pointed out and followed Sydney's lead, closing in on the kid's feet.

"You killed him." Stiles said with such finality that Sydney couldn't help but feel a little bit proud.

"In self-defense; he was going to kill you _and_ me. If we stay, we're either going to have to tell the truth or we're going to need a pretty convincing story. It's your choice, I'm not going to ask you to lie to your dad." Theo explained.

"Don't worry, I've had plenty of practice." Stiles muttered and turned on his heels, brushing past Charlie and making a move to grab the kid by his arms. Sydney rolled her eyes at the two boys and stepped in front of Stiles, taking hold of the kid by the shoulders and lifting him up, off the roof, while Theo nabbed his legs.

"If I find out that you're not who you say you are, you better watch yourself." Sydney threatened, tossing a glare at Theo and making sure he saw the colour of her eyes, the intense red colour of an alpha. "I'm not someone you should be messing with."

"Syd!" Stiles broke in and Sydney shook her head, but met Charlie's gaze.

Without another word between the four of them, Sydney and Theo hauled the body back to the stairwell, Stiles and Charlie following closely behind them. It wasn't hard to realize that this was just the beginning to another night from hell.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Stiles had motioned to the back room of the vet's clinic as soon as they had all arrived. The dead kid had rode over in the trunk of Sydney's car, which had been covered by the spare blanket she had tucked away for emergency purposes. There was no doubt in her mind that this entire situation was an emergency, so with Charlie sitting guard in the back seat listening for any weird noises coming from the trunk, Sydney had driven the body to the animal clinic without a word to her beta.

Charlie was obviously scared and Sydney understood that feeling well, she was scared too. There was a team of supernatural doctors running around Beacon Hills turning teenagers into mutant forms of the creatures she was vaguely familiar with. They were warping and distorting the usual rules and that was definitely enough to scare anyone in their right mind, including Sydney and Charlie.

When the body was placed on the table by the two girls, Stiles had immediately covered it with a sheet, leaving the four of them; Sydney, Charlie, Stiles and Theo, standing around the body in dead silence. Charlie took a step closer to Sydney and leaned against her side, Sydney's arm immediately coming around the girl's shoulders in a comforting manner.

"I want to go home." Charlie whispered and Sydney clutched her tighter.

"Soon." She murmured in response and let her chin gently drift down to rest on the top of Charlie's head. "I want to go home too."

"You two can go." Stiles piped up and looked between the two females but Sydney lifted her free hand up, silencing him with the simple motion.

"You're waiting for Scott right?" Sydney quipped and Stiles gave her a quick nod of his head. "I don't like the idea of leaving you alone with _him_."

Theo rolled his eyes as Sydney leveled him with a glare, even going so far as to bring out her alpha reds. He raised his hands in surrender and Charlie let out a small sigh, just loud enough to break the mounting tension within the room.

"We're waiting until Scott gets here." Charlie pointed out and let her eyes fall shut. "We want to find out as much as we can."

"And also we're not going to leave Stiles alone with _you_." Sydney's eyes never left Theo's form, even when Charlie pinched her side, hard. Her alpha barely flinched from the pain and just continued to keep her eyes trained on Theo, waiting for him to try and do something stupid.

The uncomfortable silence was back with full force as they continued to wait for Scott. When he finally arrived, close to ten minutes later, Sydney took a step away from the body, taking Charlie with her, and left the three boys to say whatever needed to be said to each other. Maybe Charlie was still willing to be in the room in order to gain information but Sydney didn't care, she was far too concerned with keeping Stiles out of harm's way, which, in this particular case, meant she wasn't going to be leaving him alone with anyone that was even remotely unsavory.

Once Scott was standing at the head of the table, Stiles moved closer to the body and flipped the sheet down, revealing the kids head and tops of his shoulders, the grotesque wound on his throat was on full display and Sydney had to give Theo the tiniest bit of credit, he certainly knew how to inflict a lot of damage in such a small area.

"Do you know him?" Theo questioned, looking down at the body lying motionless on the cold, steel examination table. Sydney finally tore her eyes off of Theo and looked at Scott, waiting for him to say his piece.

"His name's Josh. He was a junior." Scott answered in a somber tone.

Stiles glanced back to Theo and Sydney let out a low growl, only calming down once Stiles was looking right back at Scott.

"Syd." Stiles groaned and lifted a hand into the air, motioning for her to stand down. He then moved his hand back to the edge of the sheet and lifted it up, covering the kid's face once again.

"Which one did it? The one with the cane?" Scott asked and Sydney fought off the urge to growl again as Stiles looked to Theo for support.

"Yeah." Theo responded quickly, not giving any sign to his answer being a lie, which just made Sydney not trust him even more.

"What are we going to do with him?" Stiles pressed. "We can't just set the alarm and leave, that's how Tracy disappeared. All right, someone's got to stay here with him."

"I call not it." Sydney murmured and Charlie leaned into her further. She had to get home, she had to get back to Bruin and the twins, there was no way Charlie would let Sydney stay, even if everyone else insisted.

She knew that Sydney didn't want anyone to know about Bruin that didn't have to, which meant that Theo wouldn't ever find out about the baby if it was at all possible and at the present moment, it was very clear that Scott had no idea either, which was fine by Charlie. The less Scott knew about her and her pack, the more he could focus on the Dread Doctors and figuring out their plan.

"I'll do it." Theo offered with a soft sigh and suddenly all eyes were on him. "It's not like I had a big Saturday night planned."

Before anyone could argue, Scott's phone vibrated in his pocket and all eyes moved away from Theo and towards the true alpha in the room. Sydney hugged Charlie tighter against her and sucked in a breath, hoping that whatever was about to happen wouldn't need to involve the two of them. She had a baby to look after and Charlie, well Sydney figured that Charlie had had enough excitement for one night, the poor girl was probably ready to crawl into bed and sleep, not that Sydney could blame her.

"What is it?" Stiles asked, concern evident in his tone.

"Another one, another Chimera." Scott answered and Sydney bit back a moan. Charlie tensed next to her and took a step forward, looking right at Scott.

"We're going to take off." Charlie announced and turned her attention to Stiles, who gave her a slight nod of approval. Scott may have been the alpha but he wasn't Charlie's and Sydney was most concerned about Stiles at that moment. If Stiles had wanted them to stay, this was his opportunity to say so but with his nod, she knew they were free to go.

"If you need _anything_ ," Sydney paused and stared directly at Stiles, "you call me."

"Yeah, okay, got it." Stiles replied.

Sydney shot Theo one last glare, alpha eyes included, before leading Charlie out of the vet's clinic. When they were outside at the car, she paused and took Charlie into her arms in a proper hug, holding the girl tight against her chest and trying to provide as much comfort as she could.

Charlie relaxed into Sydney's hold and buried her face into her shoulder, not wanting her to let go, not until they were somewhere safe. Sydney gently ushered Charlie around to the passenger side of the car, unlocking the door as she did so and when they were standing just outside of the front seat, Sydney pulled the door open.

Charlie clambered into the seat and buckled up immediately, looking up at Sydney just as she gingerly shut the door. Sucking in a breath, Sydney made her way back around to the driver's side but before she made a move to open the door, she locked her eyes on the outer walls of the clinic.

"Please be safe Stiles." Sydney whispered and disappeared into the car. She just hoped that everything would work out because if something else happened to Stiles, she wasn't sure she'd be able to control herself around Theo anymore.

The kid was bad news and he was definitely a good liar, if only she knew what he was trying to hide.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _And here we have Sydney finally coming face to face with Theo. Do you think she acted appropriately, do you think she should've been more wary of him, or do you think she should've ripped him to pieces?_**

 ** _Do you guys feel that Theo is underestimating Sydney's ferocity?_**


	30. Chapter 30

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 30** **:**_

Charlie had brought up a good point when it came to Stiles, she had stated that if Theo was going to be the one keeping an eye on the body, then maybe they should come up with a plan of their own. Ethan had quickly volunteered to tail the kid and watch him as he spent his time inside the vet's watching over the dead body but Sydney had brushed his offer aside.

It was her time to step up, her time to shine and when Stiles had called her, informing her that he was headed over to Deaton's to set up a camera to watch the body without being in the same room, she had come up with a brilliant idea. Stiles' ultimate plan was to sit outside the vet's in his jeep, exactly like a stake-out, which meant that Sydney would have free reign to watch over him without being seen either.

Charlie wasn't about to let Sydney go alone, which is why the two of them found themselves sitting in the front seat of Sydney's car parked in the shadows with a clear view of Stiles in his jeep with Theo in the passenger seat. While it wasn't the most exciting mission, Charlie was just glad to be able to spend some time alone with her alpha and maybe offer up some ideas or theories as to what was going on in Beacon Hills.

With her eyes locked on the back end of the jeep, Charlie considered how to breach the subject; she wanted to know more about Stiles and the relationship that he had with Sydney. She wanted to know why Sydney was so easily affected by her friend's state of panic, but most importantly, she wanted to know why, of all people, Stiles seemed to mean as much as he did.

He was only a human, he didn't have any superpowers that she knew about, yet Sydney was adamant about keeping him in the loop. They were a team, and even Charlie knew that there were things Stiles shared with Sydney that he didn't share with Scott, which just served to make her even more curious about the two of them.

"So, can I ask you something?" Charlie broke the silence that had fallen over them, she even reached over and gently set her palm on Sydney's hand, bringing her alpha's attention over to her.

"Always Charlie." Sydney nodded at her, waiting for her to go on.

"Okay, I guess…this might be a sensitive subject but I just want to know why you have a sort of connection to Stiles, you know, like how come you can feel it when something's wrong with him?" Charlie pushed and prayed that Sydney wasn't going to deflect. She wanted to know why Stiles was so important to her, she wanted to understand why they were sitting at the vet's watching over him instead of at the school where Scott was preparing an attempt at catching one of the Dread Doctors, although if Charlie was completely honest, she didn't mind sitting that particular mission out.

"I don't really know." Sydney answered with a shrug and turned her attention to Charlie for a split second before looking right back to Stiles sitting in his jeep.

"That's it? That's your whole answer?" Charlie countered, frustration obviously evident in her tone.

"Well yeah." Sydney tilted her head to the side. "I don't know why, nor do I _understand_ why, but Peter helped me come up with a theory before all this happened."

"Okay." Charlie dragged the word out, hoping that Sydney would continue talking. When her alpha made no move to say another word, Charlie let out a sigh and opened her mouth again. "Care to share this theory?"

"We think that he might be my emissary." Sydney answered promptly and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Was that so hard?"

"No, I never said I was keeping it a secret, I just don't like to throw that sort of thing out there unless I have proof. I've always sort of thought that he could be my emissary but I don't want to infringe on Scott's territory, you know?"

"Stiles isn't Scott's territory." Charlie pointed out with a huff. "He's an alpha, that doesn't mean he owns anyone."

"That's not what I meant." Sydney argued.

Charlie took a few seconds and studied the woman sitting in the driver's seat next to her. She looked fine, she looked strong and competent but Charlie knew there was more to her than just that. Sydney was intelligent, brave and fierce, which was exactly what she wanted in an alpha, but there were other times where Sydney was weak and fragile.

She wanted to know what the woman was like when she was actually _with_ Peter. There was no doubt in her mind that the two of them could've had one hell of a strong pack, but Peter had put a stop to any sort of attempt at that.

"What _did_ you mean?" Charlie wanted answers and she wasn't about to be shy about it. There weren't going to be any secrets between them if she had anything to say about it and seeing as they were both alone in a car, it was the ideal opportunity to ask anything that she desired.

"I don't want to cause a rift between them, especially when I'm not entirely sure that Stiles _is_ my emissary. We could just be connected because of the whole nogitsune possession. I mean, he was possessed, I was basically his guard dog at the time, who's to say that there aren't lingering bonds between us because of what we went through?" Sydney explained as well as she could. "It all comes down to theories and until I have proof of any one of the theories then I'm not going to do anything except keep as many people as I can safe but first and foremost my pack."

Charlie accepted the explanation for the time being. Sure it gave her a better idea as to why Sydney and Stiles were connected in the way that they were but Sydney also had a point: there was no definite proof of anything.

Relaxing in her seat, Charlie tipped her head back and stared up at the ceiling of the car. She sucked in a breath and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to clear her head enough to figure out what she was going to ask about next. There were endless possibilities: she could ask about Peter, she could bring up Sydney's childhood and the details surrounding her parents death; she could also bring up her parents-

"Stiles is smart." Sydney murmured, breaking into Charlie's train of thought. "Incredibly so and his instincts are generally right. Don't take what I'm about to say as a direct hit at Scott but he should _really_ start listening to Stiles."

"Scott's a good guy." Charlie pointed out and Sydney nodded her head yes, agreeing with her beta.

"I never said he wasn't and he's a decent alpha, but I think he's focusing too much on trying to save everyone instead of what's right in front of him." Sydney sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. Charlie could hear her heartbeat picking up in pace slightly and knew that Sydney was starting to get a little bit worked up.

"He'd never let anything happen to Stiles though, if that's what you're worried about. You have to know that he-"

"Charlie, look at who's currently watching Stiles' back." Sydney cut in and motioned between herself and Charlie. "I get that Scott's got other things to deal with but if there was someone out there and you told me you didn't trust them, there's no way that I'd let you be anywhere near that person without some sort of protection for you."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Even if that meant interrupting a pretty complex plan?" Charlie asked, referring to Scott's idea to try and trap one of the doctors in the high school while also trying to protect Hayden.

" _My_ pack is _my_ primary concern." Sydney said firmly.

"What about anyone else though?" Charlie pressed.

"I'll do what I can but, like I said, _my_ pack comes first." Sydney repeated herself and glanced over at Charlie, who was sitting back up straight and looking at her alpha. "I'm a fairly new alpha, and I'm not saying that the way Scott runs his pack is bad, I'm just saying that I've seen too many people fail at being an alpha, I know what not to do. If you don't accept that, I'm not going to force you to stay-"

"What?" Charlie threw herself closer to Sydney, her eyes bugging out of her head at her words. "No, no I like it with you."

"I know." Sydney nodded solemnly. "And I like having you, but if there ever comes a time when you don't agree with the way I do things, you're welcome to leave, I'm not going to fight you, unless I think your safety's as risk."

Charlie let out a low whistle and continued to stare at Sydney, who didn't move, she barely even flinched, she just held her beta's gaze and threw a small smile on her face. Charlie nodded her understanding and crossed her arms over her chest, letting Sydney's words truly sink in.

She was free to do whatever she wanted when it came to being a part of the pack, Sydney had just admitted that she wasn't going to force Charlie to do anything she didn't want to do but she had also said that there was no way she'd let Charlie go off on her own with someone that she didn't trust. It was definitely a different way of running the pack than Scott but maybe the way people ran packs was dependent on their surroundings, maybe there wasn't a cut and clear right way versus wrong way.

"What happens when Peter comes back?" Charlie asked in a hushed whisper and Sydney visibly tensed at her question.

The idea of having the man show up in the pack had been eating at Charlie's mind ever since they had arrived back in Beacon Hills. She knew that Sydney was struggling without him and her nightmares sounded horrendous, but the dynamics of the pack at present were perfect and she feared that if Peter came back, he'd ruin everything that the four of them had worked so hard to achieve.

Would Peter waltz in and take over, would he demand Sydney get rid of any, or all, of her betas? Would she submit to him and let him do whatever he wanted? Or would she stand up, stay strong and let Peter hold the same status as the rest of the betas within the pack?

" _If_ he comes back…" Sydney corrected and let her sentence trail off. "I don't know. I already know that I don't trust him and I have all these fears that he's not going to be the same Peter I knew before he got himself thrown into Eichen House, so there's that."

"Wait, you don't trust him already?"

"No. He's been out of my life for quite a while and I don't trust that someone else hasn't gotten to him or that he hasn't come up with ridiculous ideas of his own. Even when I was _with_ him he turned on Scott without any warning, he went after him because he was supposed to be the alpha of Beacon Hills and he thought Scott was the reason he wasn't.

"Well Scott kind of is." Charlie pointed out. "You said that Scott and Derek killed him, which would, in turn, mean that he lost his alpha spark, right?"

"They did kill him, he _was_ dead, but when he came back, he was still an alpha. I don't understand it but I mean, he brought himself back to life, anything seems possibly. If it's anyone's responsibility for him not being an alpha though, that's on me." Sydney confessed and let out a breath that she didn't realize she'd been holding. "I went out and got myself stabbed when the Oni were in town. I was the one who was dying because of that stab wound and he was the one who tried to save me, he gave up his alpha spark to keep me alive."

"Syd-"

"I think that's part of the reason that I keep having nightmares about him killing me." Sydney didn't even let Charlie speak. "So yeah, I don't know, but he's not going to hurt you, or the twins, and especially not Bruin. Peter's not someone that I trust on a good day, imagine not knowing what he's been through for months, Charlie, that's a long time to be away from someone. If he showed up tomorrow, I'd be inclined to lock him up somewhere until I knew he wasn't going to do anything stupid."

Charlie forced a soft smile onto her face and dropped her gaze down to look at her knees. While what her alpha had said was reassuring, it still didn't answer the most important question. Sydney's hand moved across the console and came to rest on Charlie's knee, immediately drawing her attention back up to her alpha.

"Would you fight him if you had to?" Charlie asked in a hushed tone.

"If it meant protecting my pack, my family and my daughter, then I would rip his heart out." Sydney answered and when Charlie looked at her eyes, she spotted the all too familiar red glow. Sydney wasn't messing around, not at all.

A blanket of silence fell over the two of them and Charlie relaxed in her seat, watching as Sydney did the same. The two of them didn't say another word to one another, instead they just watched, they kept their eyes on Stiles and Theo, or at least what they could see of them, and they tuned their ears in, trying to hear anything that the two boys were exchanging.

When nothing was heard from the jeep, Charlie let out a sigh and shut her eyes, hoping to clear her mind. She had asked a lot of what she had wanted to ask and even now, just sitting in the car next to her alpha, she felt a lot more relaxed about things than she had beforehand, except there was one last thing lingering on her mind, and it had very little to do with Sydney and her betas, at least her current betas.

"What about Isaac?" Charlie asked, her voice barely audible and slightly shaky.

"What _about_ him?"

"If he decides to come here, what would he do about a pack?" Charlie continued speaking, wondering what exactly she wanted to know. Even if Isaac did leave France to visit her in America, that didn't mean he was going to stay. In fact, it was very possible that he had a pack of his own in France and he'd come to see her for a little while before taking off back to his home. Part of her hoped that one day they could be in the same pack though and maybe that's where Charlie's curiosity came from.

"Charlie, he's not just going to come over here-"

"Hypothetically." Charlie cut in. "Hypothetically he _was_ coming over here to stay, on a permanent basis, what would you do?"

"Me? He's welcome to the pack any time he wants. I've seen what that kid can do and what he's capable of, he'd make a great addition to our little family." Sydney answered honestly. "Only if that's something you'd want though."

Giving Sydney another nod of understanding, Charlie accepted her answer. It was very apparent that Sydney wasn't going to do anything that wasn't okay with the rest of the pack and if anyone's safety was even remotely threatened, she'd do whatever she could to protect her pack, her family, and that sat perfectly well with Charlie. It didn't matter if she was a different sort of alpha from Scott, she felt safe with Sydney, she felt like she belonged and most importantly, she felt like family.

Sydney looked sideways at Charlie and gave her an encouraging smile, Charlie met her eyes and smiled right back, but Sydney's smile faltered. Her eyes glowed red and they widened in what Charlie could only call fear Before she knew what was happening, the sound of glass shattering overwhelmed her, piercing her ear drums.

"Charlie!" She heard Sydney call out for her but the sound of the glass breaking was still echoing in her head.

Charlie felt the shards fall down her back and mix in with her hair, and at that point, she threw herself forward, towards Sydney, in the hope that whatever had broken the window wasn't going to immediately come after her. She just wanted to protect herself, she wanted to make sure that she had a fighting chance and if that meant getting as far away from the busted window as she could, then that's exactly what she was going to try to do.

Sydney lunged forward and attempted to scramble closer to Charlie, desperate to get on top of her and protect her from whatever was attacking but the fiery fist exploded into the car, meeting Sydney's shoulder and sending her reeling backwards as flames erupted from the impact.

She let out a grunt of pain and felt the door digging into her back, but when she made a move to suck in a breath; her lungs were filled with the smell of burning flesh. Sydney erupted into a fit of coughs and was stuck watching as the flame covered figure grabbed hold of the back of Charlie's shirt and hauled her through the broken window.

"Char-" There was no way for her to get anymore words out, the heat in her lungs was too much and without fresh oxygen getting into her body, she knew that the two of them were doomed.

Charlie flailed though and tried to grab onto anything that she could in order to stay inside the car. Her hands latched on to Sydney's forearms and her claws dug in to her alpha's flesh, ripping and slicing her skin as Sydney let out an ear piercing cry of pain. Sydney never said a word though, she just screamed as Charlie held on, pulling her claws down her arm, the points digging deeper and deeper into her flesh.

The fiery figure let go of Charlie just as quickly as it had grabbed her and the look of sheer terror on the girl's face was enough to send Sydney into overdrive. She freed her arms from Charlie's claws and hauled her against her chest but not before the figure's fist connected with the side of Charlie's head, knocking her out cold and forcing her body to go limp.

Without any explanation, the figure backed away from the car and Sydney simply held on to her unconscious beta, trying to draw out her pain but the wounds in her forearms were far too painful for her to do much at all. Sydney clutched Charlie tight and looked out the front window of the car, studying the flame covered figure and gasping at the sight.

There was no way, no way that the man who had just viciously attacked her and Charlie was the kind, caring deputy that Sydney had made friends with all those months ago, yet Jordan Parrish was right in front of her, heading right for the jeep.

Frozen in fear and shock, Sydney was reduced to watching as Jordan attacked Theo in the same manner that he had gone after Charlie. It wasn't until the jeep was thrown onto its roof that Sydney made a sound and only then was it yet another ear piercing, gut wrenching scream.

She fought with everything she had to stay conscious but her pain, mixed with the small amount that she was drawing out of Charlie, was starting to become too much for her. She stopped taking away Charlie's hurt and worked on situating her in the passenger's seat in a way that would keep the girl upright long enough for Sydney to get to the jeep.

When she moved Charlie's body back into the seat, Charlie let out a muffled groan and Sydney gently took hold of her head, her palms on either side, and she looked into her face. Charlie's eyes fluttered open the tiniest little bit and Sydney let out a huge sigh of relief. She could handle this, she could take care of Charlie and make sure that Stiles was okay, she just had to focus.

"Charlie, hey Charlie, look, I'm just going to leave you here for two seconds while I get Stiles away from the jeep," Sydney glanced through the window and took in the sight in front of her, "which apparently is on fire, like everything else."

"Hmm." Charlie hummed but that was enough for Sydney. Without hesitating any longer, she finagled her beta's body into the passenger seat and slumped her against the door so that she remained semi-upright.

Sucking in a breath, Sydney forced her door open and leapt from the car, sucking in a deep gulp of fresh-ish air from outside. She felt blood dripping down her arms but surged forward, praying that the rest of the damage was only to the jeep and not to Stiles' fragile human body.

"I got this!" Theo called out over the commotion and Sydney rushed forward, meeting up with Theo as he closed in on the front of the jeep, a giant red fire extinguisher in his possession.

"Let me get Stiles!" Sydney yelled back and bent down, grabbing onto Stiles' arms and gently pulling him out from the burning vehicle.

Theo blasted the fire with the extinguisher and subdued the flames while Sydney continued to pull Stiles further and further away from the jeep. She dragged him closer to her car and when she could no longer fight the intense pain from the wounds in her arms, she dropped down to the ground, taking the brunt of the impact on her knees.

"You okay?" Theo's voice was loud in her ears and she nodded her head yes in response, afraid that if she tried to speak, her voice would falter and she'd choke on the smoke. "Where were you?"

Sydney sat her butt down on the ground and held Stiles in her arms, listening as he let out groans and moans of pain, but as long as he was making noises, then she knew he'd be okay. Looking back up at Theo, she motioned down the alleyway and waved in the direction of the parked car.

"Down there." Sydney huffed and focused on drawing in oxygen, soothing her burning lungs. She let go of Stiles and looked down at her arms, watching as the claw marks from Charlie's razor sharp talons began slowly healing right in front of her very eyes. "Did you see what happened?"

She moved her eyes back and forth across the alleyway, frantically trying to see if the figure was still nearby. At the lack of new fires erupting around her, she theorized that Jordan Parrish was gone, as well as her hope of helping him at that very minute.

"It came out of nowhere." Theo answered and clutched the fire extinguisher against his chest, not wanting to let it get away from him. "The body-the body's gone."

"Fuck!" Sydney exclaimed and squeezed her eyes shut, focusing her energy on her still bleeding but slowly healing wounds. "Fuck!"

She didn't like the idea of Jordan not being on her side, she hated him even more for what he had tried to do to Charlie and, consequently, what had happened to her arms, but she was more concerned with figuring out why he had shown up and why he had decided to take on everyone in sight.

When the tears erupted from her eyes, she made no move to stop them, or even brush them away, this was the absolute worst outcome they could've imagined. Charlie was barely conscious, Stiles was out and there was fire, or remnants of fire, every which way she turned. Whatever the hell Jordan Parrish was doing, it wasn't good, which just begged the question: what had his mission been?

Sydney wasn't sure she was ready to find out.

Propping Stiles up against her side, she looked at Theo and kept her eyes trained on him as he made quick work of flipping the jeep back over onto its wheels. When the vehicle was situated upright, Sydney gave Stiles a gentle nudge and listened closely as he let out a barely audible groan.

This was good, this was really good, he wasn't dead and he was maybe regaining consciousness. When Stiles' eyes slowly opened, she gave him a comforting hug and drew out a tiny bit of his pain; when it became too much because of her own wounds, she pulled away from him and forced a small smile onto her face as he looked at her, confusion evident by the look on his face.

"Can you sit up?" Sydney asked softly and Stiles leaned away from her, propping his legs so that his knees were sticking up in front of him. He then rested his arms on his kneecaps and looked down at the ground, sucking in deep breaths as he tried to get his wits about him.

"I'm good." Stiles murmured and Sydney gave him a gentle pat on his back before hopping up to her feet. She rushed down the alleyway and gently opened the passenger side of her car, which was now lacking a window.

Charlie's eyes were barely open but Sydney was relieved at the sight of her glowing golden irises. She was alive, she was going to be okay and she clearly recognized, even in her fuzzy state, that there was danger lurking nearby. Sydney slipped her arm around Charlie and hauled her out of the car, waiting as Charlie struggled to get her feet on the ground, then the two of them hobbled back over towards Stiles, who was watching them closely.

"We should get you to the hospital, you took in a lot of smoke." Theo pointed out, his eyes locked on Stiles, clearly concerned for the boy. Sydney couldn't tell if he was being genuine or if he was a really good liar, but at this point it didn't matter, Theo wasn't wrong, Stiles probably _did_ need to go to a hospital.

"We can take him." Sydney piped up and Charlie gave a weak nod, her grip tightening on her alpha for more support.

"I'm fine." Stiles countered and swung his arms to the side, cautiously clambering back to his feet. There was blood spattered all over his face and Sydney cringed at the sight of the poor kid. He was a human mixed into the whole supernatural mess of Beacon Hills, how was that fair to him, to anyone really?

It wasn't that she saw Stiles as weak, he was far from weak, but there was a part of her that knew he wasn't going to be able to do the same things that she or Charlie could do. He was slightly more fragile in the fact that his body didn't heal like theirs, and that scared Sydney more often than she'd like to admit.

Stiles took a step closer to the front of his jeep and took in all the damage that had been done to his vehicle. He threw his hands into the air and let out a huff before looking over towards Sydney. She gave him a halfhearted smile in response and mentally vowed to help the kid get his jeep fixed, if he needed her help.

Before anyone could say another word, a deep, male voice echoed out from the jeep's wreckage and when Stiles locked his eyes in on the police radio residing inside, Sydney held her breath, hoping that this particular police call didn't have anything to do with them.

"Suspect in 1-8-7 is in custody and en route to station." The radio stated. "Suspect's name is Yukimura, Kira."

Stiles quickly moved closer to Theo to get a better vantage point so that he could hear the words more clearly. Of course, he didn't have super werewolf hearing. Theo glanced sideways at Stiles, confused as to what the radio was saying.

"What's a 1-8-7?" Theo asked and even Charlie leaned towards the jeep slightly, desperate to get a better listen to the man's words.

"Homicide." Stiles replied, his voice gruff.

"Stiles-" Charlie started but Sydney cut her off.

"What do you want us to do Stiles? Just tell us what you want us to do."

Stiles looked over at the two girls and shook his head, frustrated at the entire situation. Charlie stepped away from Sydney and, even though she was a little uneasy on her feet, she remained standing upright.

"Just…I don't know Syd, go home?" His tone came off more confused than ever and Sydney wasn't entirely sure she wanted to leave the kid alone in his current state.

"Stiles, are you sure?" Sydney pressed, part of her hoping that he was serious and another part of her hoping he wasn't.

"Yeah." He nodded and Sydney slipped her arms around Charlie once again.

She paused and looked between the two boys before gently leading her wounded beta back to the car. She had wounds on her arm still that were throbbing and she knew that she had to get them both home so that the twins could help clean them up. After that, she needed a plan, she needed to figure out her next step.

At that very moment, all she really knew for sure was that Jordan Parrish wasn't going to walk away from her without an explanation. She wasn't afraid of getting her hands dirty, even if it involved people that she considered her friends.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _So what did you guys think?_**


	31. Chapter 31

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 31** **:**_

Sydney pulled into the driveway and parked the car as best as she could considering her arms were still bleeding and throbbing. Charlie was nearly wide awake by this point and as soon as the car came to a stop, she made quick work of getting out on her own, managing to stay stable on her feet while she leaned against the car and waited for Sydney to follow suit.

The lights were still on in the house, which meant that at least one of the twins was still awake, but Sydney figured that neither man would be heading to bed until the girls had arrived home, it was just how the pack worked. Until everyone was safe, no one slept easily, and now that the two girls were finally home, she figured that the twins would be heading to bed right after they checked out their war wounds.

"You okay?" Charlie asked, breaking Sydney out of her little reverie as she made her way towards the front of the house.

"My arms are killing me." Sydney replied back softly and paused in her movements, waiting for Charlie to catch up before mounting the stairs on the porch. She flipped her arms over in front of her and let Charlie get a good look at the damage she had inflicted, Charlie wincing at the sight of the deep claw marks in Sydney's flesh. "It's better than it was though."

"Syd, I can almost see bone." Charlie pointed out in a whisper.

"I think you snapped a tendon or two." Sydney tried to tease but Charlie winced as her words. She didn't like the fact that she had hurt her friend so badly but what was she supposed to do? There was a fiery monster that had tried to pull her out of the car and if it had succeeded, well Charlie didn't want to think about what could've happened, she was just glad that Sydney was there.

"I'm sorry." Charlie shied away from Sydney's gaze but when Sydney latched her hand onto her wrist, she looked right back into her eyes, which were glowing the familiar red of an alpha. "Did you see what the hell happened anyways?"

"I did." Sydney nodded and marched up to the front door. Charlie dug her keys out from her pocket and slid it into the door, turning it so that they could get into the house. Once the door was opened, Sydney motioned for Charlie to go ahead and then proceeded to follow her as she wandered into the kitchen, Sydney pausing only to shut and lock the door behind them.

"What was it?" Charlie asked and flopped down onto a chair at the kitchen table, forcing a smile onto her face as the twins emerged from the living room, Aidan cradling a half asleep Bruin in his arms.

"Parrish actually." Sydney answered and sat down in the chair next to Charlie, but she was focused on Ethan, who had his eyes narrowed in on her bleeding arms. "Ethan, please tell me you can patch these up like right this second?"

Ethan got closer to her arms and gently reached out, taking hold of her right arm by the elbow. Sydney didn't make a noise and when Ethan twisted her arm gingerly, she bit down on her bottom lip, fighting back the pained groans that were desperate to escape.

"What happened?" He asked and Aidan nodded along with his brother.

"Parrish tried to pull Charlie out of the car." Sydney answered simply and the twins just stared at her, waiting for more of an explanation. "Okay, Deputy Parrish who was all 'flamed on' went after Charlie here. He busted through the window on my car and tried to get her out, I assume so that he could finish her off, but I wasn't going to let that happen."

"And I grabbed onto Syd's arms and the next thing I know, my claws are ripping into her skin." Charlie added in a low tone, almost embarrassed at the damage that she had caused. "I didn't know it was Parrish that had a hold of me."

"What about the car though? What are we going to do about it?" Aidan asked casually and Sydney let out a small sigh.

"It needs to be fixed."

"I can take it in. If you make an appointment, I can take it in after school some day." Charlie offered and Sydney leveled her eyes on the younger girl. "It's no big deal-"

"It's probably easier." Aidan pointed out. "Plus we can put Ethan on shadow duty again."

Sydney seemed to consider Charlie's offer and after a few seconds of thinking it over, she nodded her head yes, "I'll give you my credit card and you don't leave the place until the car's fixed."

"I can take my homework or a book or something." Charlie shrugged, as if it was the simplest solution there was.

"Okay." Sydney sucked in a nervous breath and studied Charlie next to her. Her beta was someone that she was already proud of, even after just a few months of knowing her. Charlie was strong, fierce, smart and incredibly brave, which is exactly what Sydney wanted in a beta. She had no qualms about anyone in her pack and the fact that they all worked so well together was just an added bonus. They really were a family and Sydney would do anything she could to protect her family.

Aidan leaned against the edge of the table beside Sydney and studied the wounds, looking at the blood still oozing out of the maul marks. Charlie shook her head and tried to clear up the fuzziness lingering in her brain. She _hadn't_ known it was Parrish that had tried to haul her out of the car, she just knew that the last thing she wanted was for some strange fire guy to get his hands on her where Sydney wouldn't be able to stop her easily.

It had been terrifying, starting from the very second that the glass shattered and fell against her skin. When Sydney had tried to pull her back, she knew she wasn't going to let go, even if it meant ripping her alpha's arms to shreds in the process but she figured Sydney would heal, eventually, if the fireball got his hands on Charlie, she figured it'd be a much more painful recovery, if she even survived at all.

"I don't think he knew what he was doing." Sydney broke the silence that had fallen over them and that seemed to knock Ethan back into focus. He quickly took off and headed upstairs, most likely to get the first aid supplies that were tucked away in the bathroom. Aidan remained leaning against the table, looking between the two girls.

"What did Parrish even want?" Aidan questioned and Bruin squirmed the slightest bit in his arms before getting more comfortable and settling down. "I mean, you were there to watch Stiles, right?"

"He flipped Stiles' jeep upside down." Charlie pointed out with a groan. "And he stole the body, he took the chimera that Stiles and Theo were guarding after he went after them too."

Sydney looked up at Aidan and forced a smile onto her face but he shook his head just enough so that she could see and no more than that. He didn't like the idea of the two girls running off on their own, especially when there were weird things happening in Beacon Hills, in fact, if Sydney had informed him that they were heading back to Colorado in the morning, he'd suggest they pack everything up that very minute and peel out of there that night.

But he knew Sydney wasn't going to run, especially not when people's lives were in danger and particularly when one of those people was Stiles Stilinski, or the sheriff for that matter. While he didn't figure she'd have any qualms about ending a life that needed to be ended, he also figured that the people living in Beacon Hills were definitely people she cared about, not only that but a lot of them were Charlie's friends: Mason, Liam and Brett specifically.

There was no way that she was going to gather up the pack and tell them to move out, not unless there was something threatening them directly and as far as Aidan could tell, it hadn't gotten to that yet. Even the attack tonight involving Parrish didn't seem direct to him. Parrish had wanted the body, he had gone after Stiles and Theo too, that meant that Parrish was most likely going after anything that got in between him and the bodies that he was after.

"I want to head back out tonight." Sydney announced and both Charlie and Aidan looked at her, concern etched on their faces. "Not to go after anything or anyone, I want to go to Derek's loft. He has a chest full of restraints that I want, in case it comes down to that."

Ethan reappeared at the base of the stairs and he headed for the table, spreading out his supplies in front of Sydney. She looked up at him and forced a smile as he moved back over towards the sink and wet a few paper towels so that he could clear the blood off her skin.

"What exactly do you mean?" Charlie spoke first and Sydney sucked in a breath, hoping that no one would argue with her.

"There's a chest full of chains and even some wicked metal head restraints that Derek has. I think they're in the loft and if we can get our hands on them, maybe we can be prepared better. If we can get our hands on Jordan Parrish, we'll need everything we have to keep him prisoner, plus this way if Peter decides to show up, we'll have a security system in place. What better way to keep an eye on him than to chain him up in the basement?" Sydney explained and even finished off her little speech with a teasing smile. "Don't you guys agree?"

"I guess that doesn't sound like such a bad idea." Aidan threw in with a small shrug. "I don't trust Peter on a good day, having a way to keep him in one place might be beneficial."

"I wholeheartedly agree." Ethan added, heading over to Sydney and gently wiping at her shredded arms with the wet paper towels. Blood was removed from her skin and once he had a better view of the internal damage, he set the paper towels in a small pile on the table and grabbed hold of the roll of gauze that he had grabbed from the bathroom upstairs. "The idea of a security system, especially when it comes to supernatural creatures, is something we should've considered a while ago. Don't get me wrong, the mountain ash around the backyard is a great idea but it's not effective against _every_ supernatural creature anymore."

"Yeah, Stiles said that Tracy walked right through it at Deaton's." Charlie added in and watched as Ethan began wrapping Sydney's left arm at the inside of her elbow. She picked up the antiseptic spray and began wafting it over the wounds, watching as Sydney hissed as the mist came into contact with the insides of her arms. All the while she sprayed, Ethan continued to wrap and when he finished her left arm, he moved right over to the right, following the same procedure.

"Chains are a very good idea." Aidan nodded. "Plus, if Lahey ever makes it over here, we'll have something fun for him and Charlie to play with."

Sydney let out a laugh at his words but when she looked over at Charlie, she immediately let her expression turn back to a more serious one. Charlie's cheeks were flushing pink at the joke but Aidan merely grinned at her, showing her that he was just kidding, he was simply trying to lighten the mood.

"So after you're done patching me up, me and Charlie are going to head to the loft." Sydney remarked and Ethan gave her a nod of understanding. "And then when we get home, I think it's best that Charlie stays within the walls of the house as much as possible."

The twins both looked to Charlie, waiting for her to argue, but the girl didn't say a word, not until Sydney looked at her too. Apparently everyone had been anticipating her objections, but Charlie wasn't stupid, she wasn't about to go against her alpha's wishes, especially when she agreed, with everything she had.

"Huh, that was easy." Ethan mumbled and finished wrapping Sydney's right arm. He gave her wrist a gentle pat as if to say 'you're good to go' and then he began cleaning up the supplies and the table.

"Well if I'm honest here, I think I'd rather be here with you guys. At least if I'm 'grounded' then there's less of a chance I'll be getting attacked, or stolen or something." Charlie pointed out and Sydney leaned closer to her, taking hold of her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I don't think I'd want to come face to face with a Dread Doctor on my own."

"And here you'll always have us." Sydney added with a smile. "Plus you can talk to Isaac."

Charlie groaned at the teasing but accepted it anyways. Sydney was right, at least if she stayed at home as much as she could then she'd always have at least one other pack mate with her. In her head, she figured she'd go to school and anywhere that either the twins or Sydney went, but other than that, she was going to be staying in the house. She had heard enough about the weird goings ons from Stiles and Liam, which meant that at this point in time, she just wanted to stay alive and also stay out of harm's way.

"No one's going to hurt you two again." Aidan lowered his voice and even ran his hand up and down Bruin's back. "We stick together, we figure this out as a pack."

"No one does anything without _my_ approval and we discuss everything from this point forward." Sydney tossed out and when no one objected, she rose up to her feet and moved closer to Aidan, giving her baby girl a kiss on the top of her head. "Charlie and I are heading to the loft and then we'll be right back. I'm not making any pit stops, I'm not going to go off track, that's what we're going to do, got it?"

Ethan nodded his understanding, Aidan quickly following suit. Without anymore words between them, Sydney and Charlie made their way towards the front door, pausing only to look back at the twins.

Things were starting to get worse and Sydney didn't want to lose any of her pack, nor did she want to see anyone else get hurt, but, there was only so much she could do to prevent anything from happening.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

The door to the loft was hauled open and Sydney led Charlie inside, the younger girl hesitant at first but once Sydney was waltzing through the middle of the room, she quickly scurried inside and pulled the oversized door shut behind her. Sydney turned at the sound of the door slamming shut and smiled at Charlie, who rushed to catch up to Sydney.

"This is Derek's place, really?" Charlie asked in a whisper, fearful that if she was too loud that she'd ruin the mysterious atmosphere.

"He owns the whole building actually." Sydney answered in her normal tone, even throwing a shrug out at the end. "He lived here the last time I saw him though."

"It sort of smells…"

"It's the Hale scent, it reminds you of Bruin, right?" Sydney cut in with a smile and sauntered over to the spiral staircase, pausing at the bottom and allowing Charlie to mount them in front of her.

"Yeah, yeah that's what it is." Charlie nodded her head and took off up the stairs, stepping onto the landing at the top and waiting for Sydney to catch up to her instead of the other way around. Once Sydney was right behind her, Charlie cautiously stepped forward but looked out at the loft below her, taking in the layout of Derek's place.

Sydney slipped her arm around Charlie's shoulders and barely winced at the pain that continued to dull in her arms as her wounds healed. Charlie leaned against her alpha and let Sydney guide her down the small hallway and into a small room on the right side. Charlie glanced over to the room on the opposite side and smiled at the sight of a toilet, assuming that the rest of the room contained the other necessary bathroom essentials.

"I haven't been here in months." Sydney said, her tone laced with wonder. She released her hold on Charlie and wandered over to a doorway in the far wall of the room, which contained a bed and a small dresser as well.

"Wasn't there a bed downstairs?" Charlie countered and furrowed her eyebrows at the furniture in the room. "A bigger bed, like wouldn't that be Derek's-"

"Yeah, he slept downstairs in his bed. Actually, I think Isaac stayed in this room when Derek first found this place." Sydney answered her and focused her attention on the closet, pulling the door open and reaching inside to flip the light on.

Once the closet was illuminated, she began looking for the chest that contained the chains, or anything else that might contain anything useful while Charlie was left to explore the rest of the room at her own pace.

"Isaac lived here?" Charlie murmured the words, almost in awe at how close she was to Isaac's essence.

"I think so, I can smell Isaac's scent a little bit." Sydney replied nonchalantly but Charlie was hooked already. She took in a deep inhale of the room and let the scent sink into her nose. It certainly smelled a little different than the scent she had smelled when they first walked in and it didn't smell at all like Bruin.

Was this what Isaac smelled like? Was his scent still lingering in the loft months and months after he had left for France?

Charlie stepped over to the bed and gently sat on the end, squeezing her eyes shut and focusing on the smell of the room. She could smell her own scent, and Sydney's too, but it was still there, the faint odour that she didn't recognize, nor did it smell like anything she knew. If Sydney was right, if Isaac had stayed in this room, then Charlie felt herself even more connected to him at his scent. It smelled natural to her, it smelled good and if this really _was_ Isaac's, then this only solidified her confusing feelings for the boy.

"Can you tell by someone's scent whether or not you're supposed to be with them?" Charlie asked, keeping her eyes closed. She could hear Sydney moving things around in the closet but that didn't matter to her, she was too consumed by the room.

"I guess." Sydney answered without any conviction. "I never really thought about it. That might be a better question for your dad but I don't see why it couldn't work like that."

"Did you feel anything when you first smelled Peter's scent?" Charlie pressed and finally opened her eyes, watching as Sydney pulled a rather large sized chest off of the midlevel shelf in the closet. When it connected with the hardwood floors, the banging sound echoed in the vacant loft, but even that wasn't a big enough distraction to pull Charlie out of her trance.

"You have to remember, I've known Peter since I was a baby. Even if I did smell him, when you're a kid, you're not thinking about that sort of thing." Sydney pointed out and Charlie nodded her understanding. Maybe Sydney would've been more aware of what she was talking about had she met Peter when she was older but sitting in the loft, taking in Isaac's faint, lingering scent, it felt like maybe they belonged together.

"Did he smell really good to you though?"

Sydney crouched down next to the chest and took her bottom lip in between her teeth, considering Charlie's question carefully. It was a decent question and honestly she hadn't really thought about it too much. At the idea that maybe Charlie had a point, Sydney began thinking back to when she had first walked into Peter's apartment.

He had taken in her scent, he hadn't said anything to her but she knew that if she had smelled bad, he would've voiced his opinion, and she hadn't exactly minded the way he had smelled either. Did that mean that just by scent alone they were meant to be together though?

His scent comforted her now, what was left of it in the clothes that she had taken from his apartment. And when her and Charlie had visited his home, Sydney had felt safe because it still smelled like him, but was that because they were meant to be or because of what they had been through together.

"Peter's scent calms me." Sydney finally answered with a fond smile as she thought back to the times when he was right by her side. "I always sort of thought that maybe having Bruin with me, who's a combination of his scent and mine, is the reason why the withdrawal isn't _as_ bad as it had been before she came along."

"I think that makes total sense. Plus you've been way more distracted by having to take care of Bruin that there's been hardly any time to sit and think about missing him, right?"

"Probably." Sydney smiled and reached her hands out, flipping the hinge on the chest and lifting the lid up. Charlie took in one last inhale of Isaac's scent and wandered over to the chest, peeking inside at the contents.

Chains and curved metal pieces were littered inside and Sydney reached her hand in, taking hold of a metal circle with spikes adorning the circumference of it. Charlie furrowed her eyebrows at the sight and when Sydney made a move to set it down over Charlie's head, she flinched, understanding the purpose of the medieval looking device.

"Full moon control is easier when you have a circle of spikes jammed into your skull." Sydney teased and let out a laugh at the sight. Charlie took the headband out of Sydney's grasp and set it back into the chest.

"Did you ever need one of those?" Charlie asked.

"Nope. I had my parents to teach me. My grandparents used to chain me up on full moons but never with the head thing." Sydney shook her head in amusement. "Good times."

Charlie shook her head at Sydney and let out a scoff. No, it didn't sound like good times at all and now that she was witnessing what the alternatives _could've_ been to her father's teaching methods, she was grateful of the way she had been taught control. There was no way she would've liked to have been involved in the torturous methods that Derek apparently used.

"Did Derek use that circle thing on Isaac?" Charlie asked in a small voice, fearful for her comrade's well being.

"No, he used it on Erica, she's a female, therefore higher pain tolerance." Sydney explained simply. "Isaac would've just been chained up but if I recall correctly, he was the first one to figure out his anchor."

"Really?" Charlie shot back.

"Yeah. Isaac was always a good kid in my books and he was a decent werewolf from what I saw. Derek screwed up but it took a lot for him to leave the pack and honestly, I don't blame Isaac. I left Derek way before he did." Sydney chuckled at the memory. "I'm glad that Isaac's doing okay where he is though and I'm really glad that you and him are friends."

Charlie nodded her understanding and watched as Sydney packed up the chest, flipping the latch down to secure it shut. She then stood up, bringing the chest with her, and motioned with her head for Charlie to follow her as she headed for the hallway.

Charlie watched Sydney go and when her alpha was out of sight, she took one last deep inhale of the room and let Isaac's faint scent settle in her nose. If this is what he smelled like after being gone for months, well she couldn't wait to smell him in person.

Isaac Lahey was going to be part of her life for as long as she'd remain alive, she just knew it and nothing was going to stop that from happening.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _A little bonding time between Sydney and Charlie, hope you guys are still enjoying this._**


	32. Chapter 32

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 32** **:**_

Charlie furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of a car parked in the exact spot that had been left vacant when the two of them had left to go to Derek's loft. It looked familiar, sure, but her dad would've called to tell her that he was coming all the way to Beacon Hills, wouldn't he?

Sydney apparently was just as confused, as was evident by her slowing down the car considerably and carefully pulling in beside it, studying the side of the car. As the two of them took a big whiff of the air, a giant grin grew on Charlie's face but immediately faltered.

Worry ran through her body and she couldn't help but wonder why her dad was here. He would've called if he just wanted to chat, which just served to prove her worry to be valid. If he was here, if he had driven all the way from Colorado to California without warning Sydney or the pack, then something was wrong.

"Can you sense the emotional state?" Sydney asked, breaking the silence in the car. Charlie took another deep inhale and tried to hone in on the emotional state of her father's scent.

Funny enough, it didn't smell panicked, or scared, or even the slightest bit abnormal. It smelled exactly like she could recall, happy, excited to see her maybe, but nowhere near sad or mad.

"Did you know he was coming tonight?" Charlie asked right back, her tone lower because she didn't want to jinx anything. This was real, she wanted it to be real, but if she spoke too loudly, maybe she'd ruin the illusion.

"I knew he was coming eventually." Sydney answered with a shrug and put the car into park. She then freed the keys from the ignition slot and opened the door, waiting just outside the car for Charlie to follow her lead. "Maybe he wanted to surprise you."

"But wouldn't he have told _you_?" Charlie fired back in a hiss. She had a point, even if Steve wanted to surprise just Charlie, he would've told the alpha.

"I think we're thinking about this too much. Why don't you just go inside and see your dad for yourself." Sydney remarked and waved her hand at the front of the house. "I can handle the chest on my own."

Charlie paused and stole one last look at Sydney before breaking out into a mad dash for the front door. She burst through it and scanned the room, locking her eyes onto the back of her dad's head as he sat on the couch in the living room.

Without thinking about it at all, she continued running for him, moved around the couch and came to a skidding stop in front of him. If he hadn't been holding baby Bruin in his arms, she would have crushed him in a hug. As much fun as it was being with Sydney and the twins in Beacon Hills, she was certainly glad to lay her eyes on her dad.

"Hey kiddo!" Steve beamed up at her and Ethan moved closer to him, walking across the room to gingerly scoop Bruin out of Steve's grasp. When the baby was safely out of the way, Charlie lunged at her dad, burying her face into his chest and curling up next to him on the couch, reveling in the feeling of his arms around her as he held on tight. "Whoa, with all the excitement here I figured you wouldn't be missing me at all."

Charlie let out a contented hum and settled into the couch next to him, but she didn't let his arms come away from her. She looked up at him and smiled, trying to keep her emotions in check more than she currently was. She was excited, worried, happy and anxious all at the same time, if she could just manage to figure out what she wanted to say first, then maybe she could alleviate some of her super charged emotions quicker than others.

"Why?" Charlie spat out and Steve furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"What do you mean _why_?" He countered and she shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts together so that she could put into better words what she was really thinking.

"Why are you here and why didn't you tell anyone you were coming?" She corrected herself and kept her eyes glued on her dad. When Steve grinned up at Ethan, she followed his gaze and cocked her head to the side, clearly confused as to what he was trying to say without using his words.

"I knew he was coming." Ethan spoke up with a smile of his own, Bruin settling into his hold. "He wanted to surprise you and he figured if he told Syd, she'd be liable to blow the surprise altogether."

"I take offense to that!" Sydney's voice echoed into the living room from the front door, which she quickly kicked shut behind her once she was safely inside. The chest full of chains was in her hands and she wasn't struggling at all to lug it across the floor.

When she approached the kitchen, she hauled the chest up a little bit higher and dropped it against the counter, a thud sounding out from the impact. Once the chest was situated on the surface, Sydney turned to face the living room and planted her hands on her hips, shooting a glare at one half of the twins.

"Not on purpose." Ethan piped up. "You're just so distracted and focused on other things that it wouldn't have surprised me if you mentioned it to Charlie by mistake. Steve called me first, it was my idea to keep you out of the loop."

Sydney tipped her head from side to side, considering Ethan's explanation. After a few seconds, she threw a smile on her face and strode forward, closing in on the living room and immediately taking Bruin out of Ethan's grasp once she was within reach. The baby cooed slightly and quickly settled in against Sydney's chest, clearly calming down in her mother's presence.

"You have a point." Sydney murmured and looked around the room, searching for her only missing pack member. "Where's Aidan?"

"He's upstairs grabbing extra sheets." Ethan explained and stole a quick look down at Charlie, who was still curled up in her father's hold. Steve was running his hands through her hair, a calming gesture no doubt, but when Ethan met his gaze, he smiled right back at him, happy to be in the house with his daughter snuggled into his hold. "We figured Steve could stay on the pull out couch."

"The very one I'm sitting on." Steve teased and Charlie shook her head no. He simply tightened his grasp on her and pressed a sweet little kiss against the side of her head, reminding her that he was right there, he was right beside her and he wasn't leaving any time soon.

"You can have my-"

"No Syd, you need your bed." Charlie cut her off and dropped her eyes down to land on Bruin. "Plus that's Bruin's room too, I don't think dad would appreciate sharing with a baby."

Sydney shook her head in amusement and began wandering back to the door. Ethan lingered in living room but kept his eyes trained on his alpha, he watched her flip the bolt on the door securing them all inside and then he watched her peel her boots off with her feet, all the while still holding on tight to her own baby.

Charlie shut her eyes and let a sense of calm wash over her. No matter how bad things were starting to get in Beacon Hills, she knew that even just having her dad there in the same house was a huge comfort. With the mountain ash barrier around the backyard and the only real point of entry being the front door, she knew that they were pretty decently protected inside the house, which meant that he would be safe there too. She didn't want him involved in the creepy Dread Doctor stuff that was happening in the town, and she certainly didn't want him getting himself involved with any of the freaky chimeras, no, as long as he stayed within the walls of the house where the twins and Sydney could protect him, then he was right where she wanted him.

"Charlie had a pretty decent theory that she shared with me when we were at Derek's." Sydney announced and sauntered back into the living room, dropping down into the chair across from the couch. "About scents."

"Oh, what sort of theory?" Steve questioned and looked down at Charlie, whose eyes popped open at Sydney's words.

"I uh, well, I think the original question was 'can you tell just by someone's scent whether or not you're supposed to be with them'." Charlie explained vaguely and Sydney gave her an encouraging smile in response.

"Hmm." Steve hummed as he considered his answer. Sydney had wondered if she had a point but then again, in her personal experience, it would've been hard to tell because, like she had told Charlie, she had known Peter all of her life. Even if his scent did smell really good to her, it's not like she would've noticed a differing scent lingering around him at a certain age, right?

"You think you can smell your soulmate?" Ethan piped up and hesitated before lowering himself down into a sitting position on the floor in front of Sydney.

"I guess that's a better way to put it." Charlie shrugged and everyone fell silent as Aidan's footsteps sounded out from the stairs.

When the second half of the twins appeared on the main floor, he made quick work of closing in on them, setting the extra sheets, blanket and even an extra pillow on the vacant end of the couch.

"I don't see why it couldn't work that way." Steve finally answered with a small smile. "I can't say for sure because I don't have werewolf senses but it makes sense. In the wild, opposite sexes of animals are attracted to pheromones, who's to say that there isn't a specific scent that one person is particularly attracted to."

"So then her theory is possible." Sydney stated and ran her hand up and down Bruin's back soothingly. She pressed the tip of her nose against Bruin's head in a gentle manner and took in a deep inhale, letting the baby's scent flood her nasal passages. "If someone's scent can calm you, then wouldn't it just be natural for you to want to be with them?"

"Yes." Steve nodded his head. "That part's no different for humans in my opinion. When you're with someone that calms you down, you'd generally tend to gravitate towards them, right?"

"Yeah." Aidan said. "But uh, what brought this theory up anyways Charlie?"

"He's got a good point." Steve added, narrowing his eyes in on Charlie. "Why are you asking about someone you're supposed to be with?"

"I uh, well, see, the thing is…when we were at Derek's, Syd took me into the room where Isaac used to stay and I could still smell him there-"

"How do you _know_ it was Isaac's scent?" Steve cut in.

"Syd said it was." Charlie looked over at her alpha for support.

"I know what Isaac smells like, it was definitely his scent, well, what was left of it anyways." Sydney added, supporting Charlie as best as she could.

"His scent smelled like…" Charlie trailed off and considered the best way to put what she was trying to describe.

"Like something you never want to live without again?" Aidan filled in and Charlie looked at him, a shocked expression on her face. Soon everyone else's gazes were on him too and Aidan lifted his hands up in surrender. "Before we were with Deucalion, there was a girl that I was seeing. I never really understood why I was so drawn to her until it was too late. When she was gone, I realized that I missed her something fierce and it wasn't until I happened to find one of her shirts stuffed away in my room that I felt a sense of calm wash over me. It was like her scent smelled like heaven."

"Oh no, Aidan, that's so sad." Charlie murmured to him and he shrugged his shoulders at her. "She was your forever?"

"Maybe." Aidan muttered.

"I'm sorry for your loss Aidan." Steve threw in but he gave Charlie a sharp pinch on the arm. "However you young lady are far too young to be experiencing feelings like that."

"Dad, Isaac's all the way in France, there's literally an ocean keeping us apart." Charlie argued and suddenly Aidan's face lit up, clearly amused by the father/daughter interaction in front of him.

"That may be but you're still far too young for boys." Steve amended. "You have school to focus on still."

"Not to mention the whole Dread Doctor thing." Sydney pointed out with a snort.

"Yes, not to mention _those_ things." Steve nodded his approval in Sydney's direction. "So here's an idea, why don't we move off the topic of soulmates and onto the topic of these so called 'Dread Doctors'. Where can I get a Dread license?"

"I don't know." Charlie shrugged.

"Did they go to medical school?" Steve joked and everyone, including Charlie, found it slightly amusing. "Maybe they were even in my class?"

"Hey maybe. Do you have a class picture or anything we could look at?" Ethan carried on with the joke and Sydney let out a loud bark of laughter, jarring Bruin from the sound.

"Yeah dad, it wouldn't be hard to tell which ones they were, unless you went to medical school with a lot of metal mask wearing steampunks, then we might have to get down to the nitty gritty details." Charlie smiled up at her dad and relaxed back into his hold.

While the severity of the entire Dread Doctors situation wasn't anything to joke about, it was still nice to be able to laugh and smile, especially with her dad right next to her. When she looked out at the rest of her pack, she knew that they were feeling the very same thing she was: relief that none of them, at least so far, had been harmed.

Snuggling into her dad's hold a little more, Charlie let her eyes fall shut and tuned into the steady thrumming of his heart. At that very moment, she was just glad to have the people that she did.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney had made sure that Bruin was snuggled up tight in her crib and sound asleep before she even considered her next move. She had decided shortly after Jordan Parrish had tried to rip Charlie out of the car that she was going to have to confront him and while she didn't like the idea entirely, she knew it had to be done. If it hadn't been for the immense flames that she had seen engulfing him earlier, she might've asked to meet him somewhere, but, considering the circumstances of their last encounter, Sydney wasn't about to tread lightly when it came to the one and only Deputy Jordan Parrish.

Freeing her cell phone from the front pocket of her jeans, she stared at the device and let out a frustrated sigh. This wasn't what she had wanted to do but she knew it needed to be done. Whether or not Jordan knew what he had done, it didn't matter, she needed to protect her pack, she needed to make sure she covered her bases and if that meant threatening a deputy, then that's what she was going to do.

As she dropped down to sit on the end of her bed, Sydney continued to stare at the screen but then she let her eyes fall shut momentarily. Concentrating on the task at hand, she sucked in a breath and prayed that this wouldn't blow up in her face. It was very possible, and highly likely, that Jordan wasn't totally aware of what he was doing but there was a part of her that believed maybe he wasn't as good of a guy as everyone originally believed.

He had went after Charlie, he had tried to get her out of the car, then he had eventually given up and moved on to Stiles, and less importantly, Theo. The two of them had come out of the encounter worse for wear, not to mention Stiles' jeep had been flipped over onto the roof before it too had broken out in flames. Jordan Parrish was a danger to people and Sydney wasn't going to ignore that fact.

When she opened her eyes a few seconds later, her fingers moved over the buttons, scrolling through her contacts until she landed on Jordan's name. Hesitating for a split second, she shook her head and hit the call button; there was no turning back now.

The phone rang once, twice, three times before Jordan picked up with a simple 'this is Parrish' and for a moment Sydney considered hanging up and ignoring the confrontation idea all together, but then the images of her shredded forearms from Charlie's claws flashed in her mind, he _had_ caused a lot of damage.

"Hi there." Sydney said softly and her eyes landed on Bruin's crib, her ears tuning in to the even breathing of her baby girl, a sound which served to soothe Sydney the slightest little bit.

"Oh hey Sydney." Jordan replied right back and Sydney dropped her gaze down to her feet, hoping that she could keep her emotions at bay. Whatever he had been trying to do to Charlie, it was over with and the girl was fine, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try again if the opportunity presented itself.

"Do you…" Sydney started but then trailed off, not entirely sure how to start the conversation. She hesitated and he remained silent, apparently giving her an opportunity to collect her thoughts, which she did as quickly as she could. "Do you know what happened tonight?"

"What do you mean?" Jordan countered and she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was genuinely confused.

"To Charlie?" Sydney attempted to clarify her earlier question but Jordan made a concerned humming noise on the other end, still unsure of what she was talking about. "Charlie, she uh, well I guess we were attacked; her and I."

"Are you two okay?"

"We're fine, I guess. A little banged up but nothing we can't handle." Sydney answered honestly and ran her free hand over the skin belonging to the arm she was using to hold the phone. "But it was sort of weird, see, we were just sitting in my car, minding our own business and all of a sudden her window just exploded."

"Like from a bomb?"

"No from someone hitting it I assume." Sydney pressed and lifted her fingers up, pressing them against the sides of her nose. "Because see, after the window exploded, someone made a grab for Charlie, they tried to pull her out of the car."

"Did they? I mean, is she…is she okay?"

"Like I said before, banged up, slightly traumatized but she'll be fine."

"Did you get a good look at the attacker?" Jordan questioned and Sydney sucked in a breath.

This was the part she hadn't been looking forward to, the part where she informed him that he was the person who had so viciously attacked her beta. He didn't seem to remember anything but then again, it was possible he was pretending, hoping that neither one of them got a good look at him so that he could not be identified. Maybe he wasn't who he presented himself to be, maybe instead of the helpful deputy, he was really a conniving maniac who had a bigger plan that he wanted to set in motion. Charlie could easily have been part of his plan, but Sydney knew she was jumping to conclusions; Jordan Parrish had been nothing but good to her before, what would make him turn against her or her pack without explanation?

Which only begged the question: what the hell _was_ he trying to do earlier?

"I did Jordan, he looked an awful lot like _you_ actually." Sydney stated firmly, confidence lacing her tone. "Like exactly like you, so unless you've got a weird twin or a clone out there, I'm pretty confident in saying that it _was_ you."

"What?"

"Jordan, listen closely." Sydney paused and sorted out what she wanted to say in her head before saying the words out loud. " _You_ hurt Charlie tonight, you hurt Stiles and I'm pretty sure you're the one that stole the body-"

"But I don't remember-"

"I figured as much. You need to figure out some sort of back-up plan, do you hear me?" Sydney bit back the growl in her tone, hoping that she could keep her anger at what had happened to her, Charlie and Stiles at bay until she was off the phone.

"I…yeah, I hear you but I don't remember any of that, I don't know what you're talking about."

Sydney squeezed her eyes shut and focused all of her energy on calming down her racing heart. She knew that if she didn't get it down to a fairly normal rhythm that one, or more, of her betas would come looking for her to make sure that she was alright. She didn't want that, she didn't want Charlie to wander in and see her on the phone with the very same person who had attacked her, nor did she want either of the twins to walk in and see how completely on edge she was after what had happened.

If she could just keep her composure then she'd be able to keep everyone away, at least until she was comfortable having them near her again.

"I believe you." Sydney breathed the words out and sucked in a breath, holding it for a few seconds before letting it out. "I do, okay, don't think that I don't because I know you, I know what you're normally capable of but I swear to god, it was you, you're the one who broke my car window and went after Charlie."

"Syd, I'm sorry-"

"I _know_ but I need to make one thing clear, okay?"

"What, what is it?" Jordan sounded on the verge of panic on the other end of the line but Sydney knew that she had to warn him, she had to give him that much.

"If there's ever a next time, I won't be letting you just walk away, especially if you lay your hands on any of my pack the way you did tonight. Are we clear?" Her tone was confident, strong and firm, no doubt in her mind that Jordan understood how completely serious she was at that very moment.

It didn't matter to her if he didn't know, or understand, exactly what he was doing, he wasn't going to get another opportunity to harm Charlie, or anyone in her pack for that matter, and the least she could do was give him fair warning. It might be enough to scare him into taking action against himself in the future, she didn't know, she didn't really care, she just wanted him to _know_ that next time he wasn't going to be walking away unharmed, not if she could help it.

"You're threatening me?" Jordan sounded slightly exasperated and Sydney bit back a low growl.

"I'm _warning_ you. I don't _want_ to hurt you but if it means protecting what's mine then I won't think twice about it."

Jordan let out a low whistle and Sydney tensed at the sound. She wasn't too sure how he was going to take her warning but in all honesty, she didn't care, she just wanted to give him a chance to stop himself.

"But I didn't hurt her too bad this time, did I?" Jordan asked in a low tone and Sydney imagined that he had understood her loud and clear.

"You tried to pull her out of the car, she grabbed onto me and ripped my arms open with her claws. We're both healed but it was pretty scary."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Jordan sighed and Sydney could hear the remorse in his voice. "I swear I'll try to figure something out."

"I know you will. Look, if you ever need help, or advice even, you _can_ call me. As long as you don't lay a hand on my pack, we're on the same team." Sydney explained, dropping her anger down a notch. It was fairly clear that Jordan hadn't wanted to hurt anyone and she didn't figure he would've hurt anyone, if he had been in his right mind, which he clearly hadn't been.

"Same goes to you." Jordan countered and forced out a little chuckle. Sydney couldn't help but smile slightly at his offer, of course he wouldn't let her go without having her _know_ that he was still on her side, as far as he knew.

"Okay. Thanks. You take care of yourself."

"You too." Jordan said softly. "Goodbye."

"Bye." Sydney pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen one more time. She shook her head at the conversation that had just transpired and without putting it off for a second, she stood up, put the phone on her dresser and went right to work at getting ready for bed.

After the night she had, she was most definitely feeling exhausted and sleep couldn't come fast enough.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Uh oh, bad blood between Parrish and Syd! Do you think her threat was warranted?_**


	33. Chapter 33

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 33** **:**_

 _Wandering down the hallway, Charlie couldn't help but smile at the sound coming from her bedroom. It wasn't the male voice that had her heart melting, no, it was the soft cooing noises from the baby, not her baby, Sydney's baby. Isaac had shown up at the house and he had taken an instant liking to Bruin._

 _If it hadn't been for Sydney's offer to take him into the pack then Charlie wasn't sure what would've happened to him. Isaac_ _ **did**_ _have a few options of course, Scott was one, but Scott's pack was slowly falling apart and joining up with a failing alpha didn't seem like the best bet, but that didn't mean there weren't others either. There was also Satomi, who seemed to like Sydney, and maybe Brett would even vouch for them, maybe she would've let Isaac into her pack, thankfully though, she didn't have to._

 _Reaching her arms out to the side, Charlie pressed her palms against the walls of the narrow hallway. She felt the cool surface against her skin and squeezed her eyes shut, letting the calm feeling flood over her. Isaac was here, he was with her and there wasn't anything that would be able to get in the way._

 _She opened her eyes and continued on her way down the hall towards the doorway where the cooing noises echoed from. When a muffled choking sound came to her ears instead, Charlie furrowed her eyebrows and looked around at the hallway surrounding her._

 _Well this wasn't Sydney's house, this wasn't a house at all, no, this was weird. There were visible pipes running along the top of the wall and through the ceiling, the walls themselves were a rough concrete and the floor below her was damp, small puddles adorning the base of the walls. Charlie pulled her hands away from the walls and tucked them against her chest, holding her breath as she focused on the noises which were no longer happy and reassuring._

 _There was an awkward gurgling sound, as though someone was being drowned in the room, but that wasn't what had alarmed Charlie the most. The noise that followed the weird gurgling had her heart pounding faster, her blood running cold as the fear took over. The buzzing and clicking of the Dread Doctors, she heard it loud and clear and suddenly everything wasn't as perfect as she had originally believed._

" _Isaac?" She called out softly and hesitantly stepped forward, hoping that this wasn't really happening. He had just arrived in Beacon Hills, she didn't want him to be dragged into everything, she didn't want him to have to deal with the creepy Dread Doctors, or Theo, she just wanted to be able to spend some time with him, getting to know him, sharing her thoughts, her likes, what she wanted to do in the future, anything but this._

 _When no response came, she surged forward and cautiously moved her arms down to her sides. She felt her claws working their way out, pushing through her nail beds and coming to surface, if this was bad, like she was anticipating, she wasn't going to go down without a fight, she wasn't going to let Isaac be subjected to their experimentation, no, she was going to save him and protect him from the evil that lurked in Beacon Hills._

 _Sucking in a breath, she pushed off and broke out into a run, rounding the corner and ending up in the room, the very same room that the gurgling noises were coming from. She paused just inside the doorway and looked around, taking in the sight of the weird, tube-like cases spanning from the floor nearly to the ceiling. Inside the tube was a wrinkled body of some sort and Charlie immediately averted her gaze._

 _She didn't want to see what else the Dread Doctors were experimenting with, right now she had to focus on Isaac and getting him the hell out of there._

" _Isaac?" She hissed, clearly growing more and more nervous with each passing second. If he was in the room somewhere, then he was definitely in trouble. The mere thought of the Dread Doctors having their hands on Isaac terrified her, but she knew that she had to try. She had been trained by one of the best alphas she had met, plus her own pack mates were experienced too. She feared though, that this was a battle she wouldn't win, even if she fought with everything she had._

" _Charlie!?" His voice was hoarse and once he had said her name, she heard him hacking, coughing like nothing she had ever heard. Whatever they were doing to him- well she didn't want to think about it, she just wanted to find him and get the hell out of there. "Charlie?"_

" _Isaac where are you?" She called out to him but she kept her voice low, hoping that she could remain unseen and unheard. Isaac was a werewolf, he'd be able to hear her even if the average person couldn't, but the Dread Doctors were like nothing she had ever seen before and she wasn't going to ignore the possibility that they were even more skilled than the typical werewolf. "I can't see you."_

" _Over here!"_

 _His voice bounced off the walls, the hissing and humming noises from the equipment all around her pierced her skull like a drill. It was heard to pinpoint where his voice was coming from, but she wasn't going to give up._

" _Where?" She called out again and lowered herself down slightly, hoping that if she stayed low, she'd be less likely to be seen. "Isaac I can't…I can't find you."_

" _Charlie!" He groaned her name and Charlie moved forward slightly more quickly than she had been moving all along. She could hear the slight pained tone to his voice and wondered what was happening to him._

 _He wasn't able to get to her or else he wouldn't be calling for her to come to him, but did that mean the Dread Doctors had him locked up somewhere, or worse, strapped to some table like one of the chimeras?_

 _Charlie rushed forward and forced her razor sharp teeth out, hoping that the minor shift would make her feel a little better about the whole situation, yet the endeavor was futile. Until she was out of the room, and the building altogether, then there would be no resting easy for her. She needed to figure this out, she needed to set her sights on Isaac._

" _Isaac?"_

 _She whipped her head around at the sound of the mechanical clicking she was too familiar with. That wasn't a good sound, not at all, but she wasn't going to back down. This was too important, Isaac meant too much to her for her to just abandon him and leave him to deal with the Dread Doctors on his own._

" _His condition is terminal." The robotic, hard to understand, voice sounded out in the quiet room and Charlie winced at the words. No, no Isaac wasn't like the others, he wasn't a chimera, he was a werewolf, a bitten werewolf and there wasn't anything, as far as she knew, that would warrant him being a candidate for their horrific experimentation process._

" _No!" She whimpered and moved forward, her head moving every which way in search of not only Isaac but the Dread Doctors too. They were a very real threat and she wasn't going to just let them take her._

" _Charlie!" Isaac's scream was laced with pain and panic and she knew that whatever was going on wasn't going to be easy to stop._

" _Isaac!" Charlie shrieked back, hoping to cause enough of a distraction so that maybe she could gain a few more seconds. If she could just get some more time…then…well she wasn't sure what that would mean for her, or Isaac, but it seemed like her only chance. "Isaac please! Don't hurt him!"_

" _His condition is terminal." The eerie voice repeated and Charlie lunged forward, running for the opposite side of the room. She needed to get to him, she needed to stop the Dread Doctors, she needed…she needed her pack, she needed more hands, more wolves with her. She was no match for them, but maybe she could- she could what? What was she supposed to do all on her own?_

 _If Scott couldn't stop them, what made her think she could? She was just a beta, a weak little beta._

" _Isaac!" She shrieked again and ran as fast as she could, moving around tables, tubes and pipes in search of Isaac. She continued to search for him, trying to use her ears to locate him but his screams, his cries of pain were too loud, echoing from everything making it nearly impossible to nail his location down. "Isaac!"_

 _Charlie turned her head back to look behind her but there was nothing there, no sign of anyone, not the Dread Doctors, not Isaac, not even the doorway that she had come through. When she turned back to face forward, she felt the impact before she even spotted the one Dread Doctor standing in front of her._

 _Her butt collided with the ground and the masked doctor tilted his head to the side, studying her scared face. His cane moved towards her and the end of it impacted against her shin, causing her to cry out from the pain. She backed away but didn't get more than a few feet before she felt hard metal against her shoulders._

 _Charlie sucked in a breath and turned her head upwards, hoping and praying that this wasn't happening. When she finally tipped her head back as far as it would go, she bit back a scream. There was a Dread Doctor at her back, there was one closing in on her and she still had no idea where Isaac was or what they were doing to him._

" _Please, please don't- don't hurt me!" She wailed and made a move to roll to the side, but the doctor at her back knocked her flat to the ground, the damp concrete floor scraping against her cheek. She felt the warm blood erupting from her skin but she was too concerned with what was going to happen next to fret. "Please just let me go!"_

" _ **Your**_ _conditional is terminal." The Dread Doctor in front of her said and poked her in the chest with the end of his cane. Charlie turned her head to the side and finally,_ _ **finally**_ _caught sight of Isaac._

 _He was lying motionless on his chest on the floor just a few feet away, his eyes wide open but there was no life left in them. Silver liquid flowed slowly out of the corner of his mouth and when she reached her hand towards him, she swore that a tear, a silver tear, escaped from his eye._

" _Isaac no!" She cried out to him and felt a boot on her hip, the Dread Doctor forcing her to stay down. "No!"_

 _The end of the cane ripped through the material of her shirt and she ground her teeth together, trying not to let them see how much he was hurting her. When the tip of the cane punctured through her skin, she grunted and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that she could will the pain away._

 _It wasn't until she felt the cane piercing into her heart that she let the noise escape her, a loud, gut-wrenching scream of pain. The air was forced out of her lungs and she opened her eyes, looking over at Isaac one last time, watching his lifeless body, looking into his cold, dead eyes._

" _No!"_

Charlie's body tensed under the covers and when she opened her eyes, all she could see was darkness, nothing but sheer darkness. She felt the fine layer of sweat on her skin, the sheets clinging to her, and the heat from the room hit her harder than she had been expecting. She was sweating, a lot, and maybe this was what a nightmare like Sydney's had felt like but Charlie wasn't familiar with the feeling. What she had seen, what she had witnessed in her dream, was something that terrified her to the bone.

"Isaac." She breathed his name out and looked frantically around the room, trying to regain her composure. "Jesus Christ."

Charlie threw the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed, planting her feet on the ground and feeling the soft plush carpet against her soles. She wasn't in the same place as the Dread Doctors, no, she was home, in her bed, with her pack nearby, but that didn't lessen her fear any.

She sucked in a breath and held it, trying to calm herself down. She was aware that the twins often used to rush to Sydney's side if she had been having a nightmare and right now, even if she was completely terrified, the last thing she wanted to deal with was explaining to the twins, or Sydney, why she was so scared and why her heart was pounding so hard it felt like her ribs were going to crack. For now, she'd try to calm herself and hope that no one came up looking for her to make sure she was okay.

"Isaac." Charlie murmured his name and shook her head. She ran her hands over her face and forced the idea of him lying motionless on the cold concrete floor to the back of her mind. He wasn't dead, not as far as she knew, he was in France, he was alive, he wasn't with the Dread Doctors. Until she saw for sure though, she knew she wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep.

Charlie turned her head to the side and looked at the clock, then she blinked her eyes, trying to rid the fuzziness in her vision from sleep. It was late, really late, but with the time difference in France, she knew that chances were good Isaac would be up. Even if he wasn't, he generally answered when she called him, either on the phone or via video chat.

Without putting it off any longer, Charlie stood up and headed for the desk, grabbing her laptop off the surface and carrying it back to the bed, where she promptly flopped down into the pillows, opened the screen and pushed the power button.

Using the time it would take for the machine to boot up, Charlie squeezed her eyes shut but immediately opened them, no longer wanting to see the image of Isaac dead on the ground. She stared at the screen instead and when the login screen finally sprung to life, she typed in her password as fast as she had ever typed. Once the computer was loaded, she double clicked on the video chat program and then followed it up by clicking on Isaac's icon.

Holding her breath, she waited for the connection to be made and within a minute, she spotted Isaac's smiling face filling up her screen. He wasn't dead, he wasn't bleeding from his mouth or eyes, his eyes weren't lifeless, or cold, or dead, he was right in front of her, smiling as though nothing was wrong, which as far as he was concerned, nothing _was_ wrong. That didn't sate her worry though, the images were still seared into her brain and she prayed that she could get rid of them soon enough.

"You're calling rather early, or well late I guess considering it's what time there?" Isaac teased and Charlie glanced over at the clock, taking in the bright red numbers reading 4:17 in the morning. She let out a groan and locked her eyes back on the screen. "Does Syd know you're up this late?"

"Uh, well, no, but that's not important anyways. I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Charlie said vaguely and Isaac raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" He countered casually, and Charlie let out a soft sigh. "Charlie, what's going on?"

"Nothing, well, yeah, nothing. I just had a bad dream, a nightmare I guess. You were in it."

"Did you want to talk about it?" Isaac asked in a soothing tone and she considered his offer.

Did she want to talk about it? Did she want to tell him that she had seen his dead body, she had failed to save him and that the reason she was calling so late was because she needed to make sure that it hadn't really happened?

"You were…you were dead." She murmured and Isaac leaned in closer to the screen, squinting so he could maybe see her a little more clearly in the dark. The only light was coming from the screen itself, which made her features very hard to see.

"I can assure you that I'm perfectly alive." Isaac replied, his tone still soft and soothing. He wasn't making fun of her, he wasn't treating this whole thing as a joke, and for that Charlie was thankful.

"The Dread Doctors got you, I was…I was trying to get you out of there but then they got me too, they trapped me and when I looked around, I saw you- your body on the ground."

"It's okay Charlie, I'm fine." He whispered. "It was just a nightmare."

"I know." She sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. "I know that now but it felt so real. They said that 'your condition was terminal' and when I saw you, you were bleeding silver."

"Silver?" He cocked his head to the side. "Black I get, and red too, but silver?"

"All the failed chimeras so far…their blood- they bleed silver, that's how- that's how we know they're in trouble." Charlie explained and Isaac nodded his understanding. "It's the mercury."

"Oh." Isaac studied her and she shut her eyes for a few seconds, trying to pull herself together.

Isaac was fine, he was in France, across the ocean and the Dread Doctors weren't anywhere near him. He wasn't a failed experiment, his condition wasn't terminal, and she could see with her own two eyes that he was alive and well.

"Sorry, it probably sounds stupid." Charlie muttered and opened her eyes again, meeting his, which were glowing golden. She forced her own golden eyes out to match his and felt her heart slowing down the slightest bit at the gesture.

"It doesn't sound stupid at all." He said. "I find it rather endearing that you were so concerned about me that you called me in the middle of the night just to check and make sure I was okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Remember, I lived in Beacon Hills once before, I know all about how abnormal things can get. My dad was killed by a giant lizard…"

"I know." Charlie bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." Isaac shook his head. "Beacon Hills is a strange place."

Charlie nodded her agreement and looked at the screen, taking in his features. His eyes had settled back to their normal colour and the smile on his face never faltered, even if she knew how sad he was having to talk about his late father. Isaac was a good man, he was her friend, he was there for her when she needed someone to talk to and he understood her. He didn't make fun of her for calling him in the middle of the night after a nightmare, which she appreciated, and just having him as a friend made her feel better.

"You know, if you ever decided to come back here, Syd said that you could join the pack." Charlie pointed out, thankful that she had something to change the topic too. "She said you're welcome in her pack. Food for thought."

"I appreciate her offer, I really do, but it's nice here, plus there's those creepy Dread Doctors there."

"But don't you want to meet me in person?" She asked, trying to keep the sadness from his previous statement out of her voice. "I mean, I like you, I think we should-"

"One day." He cut her off with a grin. "Don't worry, I like you too and I want to see you in person, but you've got the Dread Doctors to deal with."

"And Theo." Charlie added with a sigh.

"Right, Theo."

"Hey, did you know him when you were younger?"

"Theo?"

"Theo Raeken, yeah. Apparently he was in Scott's class in fourth grade or something like that." Charlie pointed out. "Did _you_ know him?"

Isaac seemed to consider her question for a few seconds before letting out a low whistle. She watched him as he lifted a hand up and ran his fingers over his scalp before locking his eyes onto hers.

"I never liked him when we were kids." Isaac answered finally, after a few hesitant seconds. "But then again I was friends with the kid who ended up controlling the kanima, the same kid that murdered half the deputies, so maybe my judge of character isn't that great."

"Well maybe but Stiles doesn't trust him now that he's back." Charlie remarked and Isaac chuckled at her words. "What?"

"Do you trust him?" Isaac asked, leveling a hard stare on her.

"I don't know." She shrugged.

"What's your gut feeling?" Isaac pressed. "What was your first instinct when you met him?"

"I guess that he's not who he says he is. I don't think I trust him either." Charlie answered. "I just don't know what his game plan is, you know?"

"I think you know in your heart who to trust and Theo doesn't sound like one of those people." Isaac stated, the grin still on his face.

"Yeah. You're right." Charlie mumbled and moved her hand out towards the screen, running her finger along the edge of it as she studied Isaac one more time.

She'd never get tired of seeing him on her screen, or hearing his voice when they talked, but part of her wanted him to come to her, she wanted to meet him in person and experience his touch, his scent, maybe even his kiss. She wanted Isaac to be there with her, she wanted to have him available to her all day, every day, not just over the phone or through video chats like the one they were currently involved in.

"You're a strong, capable werewolf and I have faith in you." Isaac said softly and Charlie felt her cheeks heating up slightly. She was thankful that her room was still rather dark or else Isaac would've seen her blush, and that was not something she really wanted him to see.

"Okay. Thanks."

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about before I let you go so you can try and go back to sleep?" Isaac questioned and Charlie considered bringing up her theory on werewolf scents. She looked over at the clock one more time but immediately brought her eyes back to Isaac.

"I went to the loft the other night, I was in the room you stayed in."

"Oh yeah?" Isaac broke in.

"You smell…well you smell amazing. I just thought you should know that." Charlie stated and shied away from the screen, looking down at the keyboard instead. Isaac didn't say anything in response and when Charlie finally managed to gain enough courage to look back at him, he was studying what he could see of her.

"It's funny you say that because when I got that copy of the book you sent me, I could smell…well I think it was you. I haven't been able to get your scent off my mind since."

Charlie chuckled at his confession and found herself wondering if her theory was right. Well, she'd have to wait until Isaac was actually, physically in front of her to test it out anymore, but for right now, his words were comforting enough.

"I'd like to think I smell pretty good." She teased and a smile spread out over her face, Isaac laughing at her. "Thanks Isaac."

"For what?"

"Being there when I needed someone." Charlie nodded firmly. "One day we'll meet."

"Yes, we will."

"Okay good." She continued to smile at him but let out a loud this time, clearly feeling the lack of sleep on her body.

"Go back to sleep Charlie. I'm not going anywhere okay, I'll always be a phone call away."

"Goodnight Isaac."

"Goodnight Charlie."

She watched for a few more seconds until the screen went black and then she gently shut the lid of her laptop before setting it on the floor and shifting it under her bed so she didn't accidentally step on it at a later time. With the thought of Isaac having actually, potentially, smelled her scent and his statement that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it ever since, she tucked herself under the covers and relaxed into her bed.

Even if the images of the dead and bleeding Isaac were still in her head, at least she could combat them with the picture of him smiling at her and his words forever echoing through her head.

 _I haven't been able to get your scent off my mind since._

Maybe once things settled down in Beacon Hills, maybe once the Dread Doctors were no longer a threat, maybe then she'd consider going over to France, but for now, for the present moment, she was staying with her pack, right where she was needed, right where she belonged.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**


	34. Chapter 34

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 34** **:**_

 _It hadn't been hard, in fact it had been rather easy, but that didn't make Sydney feel any less proud of what her and Charlie had done._

 _Luring Theo into their trap was nothing short of amazing and even now, with him chained to the wall in the basement of her house, watching closely as he thrashed in a dire attempt to get himself out of the restraints, she couldn't help but smile. Theo Raeken wasn't as threatening, or skilled, as he had made himself out to be._

" _You'll regret this." Theo growled and Sydney turned to the side to look at Charlie, taking in the sight of her beta, who was watching Theo closely, looking for his weakness, his Achilles heel._

 _This was what Sydney had wanted, she wanted to watch him bleed, she wanted to inflict pain upon him until he pleaded for death, but most importantly, she wanted her friends to be safe and that meant that Theo had to be taken out of the equation._

" _I don't think so, do you think so Charlie?" Sydney nonchalantly turned her attention back towards Theo, Charlie taking a step forward and tipping her head back, taking in the sight of the struggling Theo in front of her._

" _I don't know, he's certainly not as intimidating when you look at him this close." Charlie shrugged and turned her back to him, sauntering across the room and disappearing into the shadows._

 _Sydney took her place in front of Theo and lifted her palm up, gently resting it against his shoulder before clenching her fingers, driving her razor sharp claws into his skin, ripping it apart and relishing in the feel of his warm blood coating her talons. He didn't make a noise but his face contorted in pain and when she released her tight, forceful grip on him, he let out a low breath of relief._

 _Lifting her other hand up, she moved it forward, preparing to do the same thing to his other shoulder, but Charlie cleared her throat from behind her and stepped back into the dim light of the basement, their impromptu torture chamber that had been set up for this exact purpose._

 _Theo's eyes widened as he took in the sight of the object in Charlie's hand: a serrated blade, about seven inches in length with a leather wrapped handle in Charlie's grip. Her knuckles were white as she held it, clearly using all of her strength and focus to wield the blade, but Sydney was unfazed by the entire scene._

 _This was what they had planned for, this was the reason they had set a trap for Theo and this is why neither girl was concerned with having Theo in their presence. They were in control, they were the ones playing games with him, they were the ones who would ultimately decide if he got to live, and chances weren't looking so good for him at the present moment._

" _You don't understand- you don't know who you're messing with!" Theo growled and pulled on his restraints. The metal cuffs wrapped tightly around his wrists were digging into his skin, slicing into it and drawing even more blood. The coppery scent of blood was nearly overwhelming but neither girl said anything about it, so long as Theo was in pain, that was the important thing._

" _Little Theo Raeken." Sydney taunted and took another step towards him, her chest mere inches from his. She lowered her voice and met his eyes, "You're the one who doesn't know who they're messing with. I'm an alpha-"_

" _You're barely an alpha." Theo spat back at her and she ran her one claw across his neck, just putting enough pressure on his skin to draw the tiniest little bit of blood._

" _You should keep your mouth shut unless you're screaming." Sydney snarled and forced out her glowing red alpha eyes. "You're no one, and the game you played, the way you tried to get to Scott and hurt Stiles in the process, you're insane and do you know what we do to people who are insane?"_

" _We put them in Eichen House." Charlie piped up and Sydney glanced back at her, giving her a nod of approval. "Just like we did with Peter."_

" _Peter?" Theo ground the name out and leveled a glare on Sydney, his bright golden eyes came to surface, matching Sydney's red ones. "Peter Hale?"_

 _Charlie strode forward, still gripping the blade in her hand, and when she was close enough, she pressed the tip of the knife against his chest, directly over where his heart was located. She put a little more pressure on the blade and broke through the first layer of his clothes, stopping just a split second before she broke skin._

" _You don't get to say his name." Sydney barked back and lifted her hand up, pressing her palm against the end of the knife, driving the blade into his flesh, feeling it cutting through his skin, his muscles and even hitting bone._

" _You think he's locked away in Eichen House?" Theo spat and let out a hiss of pain as Charlie twisted the blade sideways, mangling his body around the wound._

" _ **You**_ _don't get to say his name!" Sydney screamed and grabbed the one cuff around his wrist, wrenching it to the side and driving the sharp edge of the metal bracelet into his arm. She continued to twist it, watching as the metal sliced through his arm like a hot knife through butter, blood oozing out of the wounds, black blood mixed with silver liquid. Sydney stole a glance at the injury and curled her lip back, bringing her canines out to play too. "You don't get to say_ _ **anything**_ _!"_

 _Charlie leaned forward, putting all of her weight into the knife, pushing it forward and breaking through more of Theo's insides. She continued to force it further into his chest and when she heard the sound of the point of the blade scraping against the sturdy wall behind him, she stopped and grinned._

" _I know where he is." Theo wheezed out and when Charlie twisted the blade, he let out a grunt of pain. "He's not…he's not where you think he is."_

" _Where is he!?" Sydney shrieked and lifted her hand up, pressing each and every one of the tips of her claws against his stomach. She leaned into him and felt her claws slicing through the flesh as she surged towards far worse destruction. If she pushed until she broke through the lining in his stomach, then there would be a much higher chance that he wouldn't be able to heal himself quick enough to survive._

" _He's- he's somewhere you'll never find him." Theo taunted and Charlie backed away, leaving the knife protruding from his chest. She took a few more steps away from him and watched as the man chained to the wall tried to shift but Sydney's other hand whipped up and her fingers wrapped around his throat, choking off his air supply and forcing him to remain in his human form._

" _Where is he?" Sydney growled and snapped her jaw shut, letting him see the sharp points of her canines. "Tell me what you know!"_

" _I- I know-" Theo sucked in a breath and Sydney loosened her grip on his neck just enough so that he could speak a little more easily. "He's…with the doctors."_

 _Sydney's entire body froze at the kid's words and she let her hands drop away from him. Her feet moved backwards and she continued to back away until she collided with Charlie, who simply stopped her movements. Sydney's eyes widened, her lips curled back and she launched herself forward, leaping for Theo with the intention of finishing him off._

 _As she was in mid-air, heading right for him, he dropped to the ground, he dropped to the ground, shifted his hands and slipped out of the cuffs. She didn't even have a chance to brace herself as his claws met her thighs, bringing her down to the floor hard. When his foot came to rest on the side of her head, Sydney winced from the pressure but didn't give up._

 _He moved his foot away from her and headed right for Charlie, pulling the knife out of his chest slowly and carefully. Sydney jumped to her feet but Theo turned on her, holding the blade in front of him and forcing her to remain where she stood. Charlie raised her arms, getting ready to strike but Theo spun around and plunged the blade into Charlie's abdomen, blood erupted from her mouth and she fell to the floor._

Sydney's eyes popped open at the sound of screaming and for the first time since Bruin had been born, she was thankful that the tiny baby girl had a habit of waking up wailing in the middle of the night. Bruin's cries were enough of a distraction for Sydney to focus on the task at hand, which was getting herself to her feet and getting to her baby.

Slipping out of the covers and planting her feet on the ground, Sydney reached out and flipped her lamp on, quickly making her way to a standing position before she made her way over to the crib in the corner of her bedroom.

She leaned down and gently scooped the baby into her arms, cradling her against her chest and pressing a kiss against the top of Bruin's head, drawing out any pain that the baby girl might be dealing with. When no pain came out of Bruin, Sydney pulled away and turned towards the bedroom door, preparing herself to head down to the kitchen.

"Oh Bruin, you'll never know how thankful I am to have you." Sydney cooed and quietly made her way out to the hall. Bruin continued to scream in her hold but Sydney was undeterred. Her crying in the middle of the night generally meant she was hungry and feeding the girl would be a welcome distraction from the nightmare that she had just experienced.

Theo, while he hadn't done anything to her directly, was clearly someone she didn't trust and maybe her dream, no nightmare, was trying to tell her something.

She hadn't seen Peter since she had left him in the lobby of Eichen House all those months ago, who was to say that he hadn't managed to get out, what proof did she have that the Dread Doctors _didn't_ have him? The thought of him being used to experiment on caused a shudder to rip through her spine and Sydney paused in the hallway, shutting her eyes and sucking in a breath that she hoped would calm her down even the tiniest little bit.

She opened her eyes and cautiously made her way down the stairs, not bothering to tiptoe because Bruin's screams would be enough to wake anyone up. When she hit the main floor, Sydney bee lined it for the kitchen, only to find that the light to the room was already on, Steve was sitting at the kitchen table with sheets of papers strewn out in front of him.

As soon as she stepped closer to him, he turned his attention towards her and nodded at Bruin, silently signaling that he could hold her while Sydney prepared the girl's bottle for her. Without a word to him, she carefully handed Bruin over to Steve, pausing for a second to steal a look at what the sheets of papers held.

"You're looking through my bestiary?" Sydney questioned in a low tone. Steve turned his attention to the papers on the table and forced a smile onto his face.

"I may have been adding to it." Steve nodded and adjusted his hold on Bruin, who was still screaming but not _quite_ as loudly as she had been before. "I figured I could help you out by looking up some information on chimeras, it's not much but I guess something is better than nothing."

Sydney gave him an appreciative nod and turned her attention to getting a bottle ready for Bruin. Crossing the kitchen, Sydney pulled the cupboard open and grabbed one of the bottles stashed away there.

"You know, the super moon's coming up soon." Sydney remarked and busied herself getting the bottle full of the formula mix and water. "I'm a little concerned about its effects on the pack."

"How do you normally fair during full moons?" Steve asked but his attention was solely on Bruin, who was still crying in his hold.

"Me personally, well I get a little…charged, sexually." She answered and purposely avoided his gaze, slightly embarrassed admitting that to him. "I can control the urge to maim and kill though."

"That's definitely a plus. And the others?"

"Ethan and Aidan are pretty much able to control themselves and you know what Charlie's capable of." Sydney countered, grabbing hold of the bottle which contained the formula, ready for Bruin to consume. She sauntered over to the table, set the bottle on the surface and gently took Bruin out of Steve's hold.

She shifted the baby in her arms and when Bruin was in the position she wanted her to be, she nabbed the bottle and placed it near the baby's lips. Bruin took it into her mouth almost instantly and began to suck back the formula, her cries ceasing as she ate.

"Charlie _should_ be fine but this _is_ a super moon after all." Steve pointed out. "Were you considering taking some sort of precautions?"

"I don't know. I was thinking that maybe _I_ need to stay away from the twins, you know, eliminate the temptation, but other than that, I have no idea. You'll still be here for the super moon, won't you?"

"Certainly. I'll see if I can't get my hands on some mountain ash in case any of you need to be confined." He teased but she knew that he wasn't completely joking. As a man with the knowledge that he had, she didn't have a doubt in her mind that he had access to mountain ash and she wouldn't have put it past him if he had brought some with him. "I'm not going anywhere so long as you want me here. I know that things are pretty chaotic here, and even a little terrifying, but I want to help you as much as I can."

"You're just as much a part of this pack as the wolves." Sydney forced a smile onto her face but dropped her gaze down to look at Bruin as she continued to drink. "I appreciate everything you've done for me- for us."

"It's not a problem." Steve smile back.

Sydney nodded at him and sucked in a nervous breath. She was glad to have him in her home, she was thankful that he had let her take Charlie into her pack and she wasn't going to let him sit across from her without knowing that he was just as important to her as the rest of her pack. She hesitantly brought her eyes up and met his gaze.

"I had a nightmare." She confessed and Steve nodded at her to go on. "Theo was in it, he said that the Dread Doctors had Peter."

"Oh wow." Steve remarked. "That would be…that's hard to think about."

"It scares me." Sydney breathed the words out. "It's a possibility, a very real possibility and if that's the case, who knows what they've done to him."

"I'm sure that's not the case."

"Maybe." She sighed. "I don't know. This whole Dread Doctor situation makes me feel uneasy and then there's the added stress of Theo lurking around. I already don't know what I'm going to do _if_ Peter ever shows back up, now this idea that he's been taken by the crazy experimental psychos and that they have their hands on him- that's terrifying."

"I don't know what to say. Honestly, you're right, it _is_ a very real possibility."

"Right."

"I think what you can do right now though is focus your energy and attention on that baby in your arms, _and_ your pack. Don't worry about 'what ifs' or possibilities, just keep your attention on what's in front of you." Steve offered and Sydney nodded her understanding. "No one will ever blame you for anything as long as you do your best."

Sydney remained silent and looked down at Bruin, who was still quietly sucking on her bottle. Steve was absolutely right, there was no sense worrying about things unknown, especially not when she _could_ focus on the absolute.

"Thanks." Sydney murmured and glanced at Steve through her lashes.

"Have faith in yourself Syd, there are so many other people that already do." Steve smiled and reached a hand over, giving her knee a gentle pat. "You're a good alpha."

She took her bottom lip in between her teeth and dropped her head down, looking back at Bruin. Steve gave her knee another little pat and turned his attention back to the sheets spread out on the table. She kept her eyes trained on Bruin's face but her ears focused on Steve, listening to him carefully as he went right back to flipping through pages.

He had a point, she knew that the rest of her pack had faith in her and maybe sometimes she second guessed herself more than she should but at that moment, she knew that she had to take care of her pack.

So long as nothing threatened her, Bruin, her betas, or even Steve, then she could believe in herself, she could have faith in herself and maybe if she did that, everything else would fall into place.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

No matter what was going on, or what the pack would go through, Sydney would always be amazed at the little girl that belonged to her. Bruin was perfection, simply gorgeous in every single way and the more she studied the tiny baby, the more she felt herself wondering why she had ever been against having kids to start with.

Sure there was the fear that something would happen to her and Bruin would have to grow up without a mother, but wouldn't it be worth it if she could spend any amount of time as she could with the girl, plus it wasn't like she was alone anymore; Peter _was_ out there, somewhere, and even if something happened to him too, she still had her pack.

Charlie would make an excellent guardian, so long as she was done with her school and in a good place, putting that sort of responsibility on someone who was very much still too young wasn't something Sydney wanted, but she knew that if it came down to it, her young beta was certainly an option. Steve was right there too and it was evident in the way that Charlie acted that he was an exceptional father.

Aidan would no doubt give his life for the little girl and she figured that Ethan felt much the same. They simply adored Bruin, treated her as though she was part of their family, and if Sydney was completely honest with herself, that's exactly what she felt she had: a family.

They were her pack, her betas to look out for, and if something ever did happen to any one of them, she wasn't sure what she'd do. Part of her hoped that it would never have to come to that but with the way things were going at that very moment in Beacon Hills, she wasn't sure they'd all make it out unscathed.

Laying on top of her bed, Bruin residing next to her as she grabbed at the air and cooed at Sydney, who was making silly faces, she simply took it all in. Bruin was okay, she would always be okay and nothing was ever going to hurt her. Sydney would make sure of that, which is precisely why she felt the sadness taking over her body. Bruin had that, she had a mother who was willing to do anything to protect her, but there were so many other children, werewolf or not, that didn't have that and there was one little blonde haired girl that crossed Sydney's mind quite regularly.

Sam wasn't by any means alone, no, she had Satomi and the pack, but Brett had informed her that she was having difficulty fitting in, not that that had been a shock to hear. Satomi was older and even if she had once had experience with children, there was no doubt that it was different now; she had a pack to look after, a pack that had already suffered too much loss and if Sydney were in Satomi's shoes, she knew that she'd be focused more on keeping everyone safe, rather than the well-being of one very special little girl.

Sydney's eyes drifted to the doorway where she immediately spotted Aidan standing there, leaning against the frame with his hands tucked into his pockets. A small smile crossed his face and Sydney lifted a hand up, waving him in, before turning her attention back to Bruin and dangling her finger in front of her daughter for the little baby to grab at.

"You okay?" Aidan questioned and gently lowered himself down onto the bed, moving into a lying position on the opposite side of Bruin as Sydney was. "You seem- what's the word I'm looking for..."

"Distracted?" Sydney provided and he shook his head no. "Um, focused?"

"Glum. I'd use the word glum." Aidan smiled at her and let his hand hang over Bruin's head, the two of them watching in awe as the baby girl nabbed his finger in her other hand while still holding on to Sydney's finger tightly.

"I guess that word fits." Sydney sighed and dropped her gaze down to the pillows. "Sorry."

"No need to be sorry, we all know you've got a lot on your mind." Aidan replied with a calming tone. While it was nice to hear that he understood, it also saddened her to know that the thing weighing most heavily on her mind wasn't anything to do with the Dread Doctors at all.

They were a threat, Sydney knew that much, but she also knew that they were easy to deal with, or at least the method of dealing with them was easy. They needed to die, brute force and violence would solve that problem, but that wouldn't solve the issue of Sam and how the little girl was doing with Satomi and her pack.

"This whole Dread Doctors thing sucks." Sydney remarked and rolled onto her back, cautiously shifting closer to Bruin and not breaking the little girl's hold on her finger.

"Yes it does, but I know you and I know that that's not what's _really_ bothering you. Why _are_ you so glum, chum?"

Sydney sucked in a breath and squeezed her eyes shut, picturing Sam in her head. She wanted to know that Sam was okay, that she'd survive in this world. She didn't by any means think that Satomi was a bad alpha, that was far from the truth, the woman had survived this long and taken care of her pack just as well as she could have, but that didn't mean that Satomi gave Sam the attention she needed.

The girl had lost her mother, had been bitten in order to save her life, and part of Sydney knew that that would be tough on anyone, let alone a young girl. She needed someone who would always be there for her, she needed someone consistent in her life, and Sydney wondered if maybe that could be her.

"I keep thinking about Sam." Sydney confessed and opened her eyes, meeting Aidan's curious gaze.

"The little girl in Satomi's pack?"

"Yes." Sydney nodded her head in confirmation. "I hate not knowing what's going on with her."

"You know she'll be taken care of though, you have to know that." Aidan pointed out and Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth. "Syd, come on, she's in good hands."

"I know." Sydney grumbled and turned back onto her side, careful of Bruin, who was still clinging to their fingers as happy cooing noises erupted from her. "But if she was with me, then I could…I could take care of her, I could give her the attention she deserves."

"I have no doubt in my mind that you could." Aidan remarked with a reassuring smile. "But you have issues of your own to deal with, do you really think bringing another child into this is a good idea?"

"I don't know."

"Right now, maybe you should focus on the child that you _do_ have, what happens when her father shows up?"

Sydney locked her eyes on Aidan and bit back a menacing growl. Point for Aidan, he was precisely right; what _did_ happen when Peter showed back up- _if_ Peter showed back up? If she did somehow manage to get Sam into her pack, then what would he think, and better yet, would she be in danger with Peter around?

"You have a point but honestly, it's not going to make me stop thinking about Sam." Sydney murmured but looked at the happy, smiling face of her very own child. "I just, I don't know, I wish things were different."

"Different how?" Aidan pressed.

"Just different. I love Bruin, and I love you guys, but I don't know, sometimes I wish that Peter had just died, you know, then I wouldn't have to wait around for him and deal with this fear that he won't be the same person he used to be when he _does_ finally show up." Sydney explained as best as she could, and Aidan nodded his head in understanding. "People who die, well, they never had the choice to leave, he did."

"And he chose to leave you."

"Exactly." Sydney whispered. "And maybe that's something we can't go back to, maybe he's destroyed what we had to the point where it's not even worth building back up."

Aidan gently pulled his finger free from Bruin's grasp, who gave a small whine in protest, but then he moved his hand towards Sydney, resting his palm on the side of her neck and running his thumb along her jaw.

"When you got in front of that Oni, when you took the blade to the gut to protect me…" Aidan trailed off and sucked in a breath, "At the animal clinic, you never got to see Peter, you never got to witness him fighting to keep you alive. Sydney, he forfeited his alpha status to keep you breathing and when he thought you didn't make it…well it wasn't a pretty sight. So you say that maybe what you have isn't worth building back up, but you have to understand, if Peter is half the man I believe he is, _with you_ , then he's not going to let you go, not without one hell of a fight."

"Yeah? You think so?" Sydney asked in a low tone.

"I do. I really, really do."

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Well, it would seem that maybe Aidan isn't totally against his alpha's bond with Peter...thoughts?_**

 ** _Thank you to poorxbrokexcollegexkid and Bleeding Blue Kunoichi for their amazing reviews!_**


	35. Chapter 35

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 35** **:**_

Sydney had Bruin in her arms, rocking the baby back and forth as she stood in the kitchen watching the rest of her pack, each and every one of them with a smile on their face. Steve was in the middle of telling them all about his trip to Beacon Hills, which had led into the first trip he had taken with Charlie as a werewolf. Charlie was laughing along with the twins, even if what her dad was saying _was_ rather embarrassing, but nonetheless, everyone seemed to be in good spirits, which was a bonus considering the super moon was upon them and no one was entirely sure how it would affect them.

So far Bruin had been rather calm but that didn't mean that she would stay that way throughout the whole lunar situation, for now, Sydney would take it, she'd relish in the fact that Bruin was calm and seemingly happy. Sydney herself was already starting to feel the pull of the moon on her body but instead of letting her sexual energy take over total control, she focused on her child, her wee little baby who was in her arms at that very moment.

Aidan had already expressed that he was feeling antsy earlier and they had discussed potential ways to deal with him if he started to become angry or aggressive; after all, Sydney _had_ just borrowed Derek's chest full of chains, she might as well use them if it came down to it.

Ethan seemed fairly unaffected by the moon's pull and for that, Sydney was grateful, because as the moments ticked on, as the calm continued to stretch out, she knew it wasn't going to last forever. So long as one of her betas had a good head on their shoulders throughout the lunar experience, then that was all she could really ask for.

Charlie wasn't showing too many effects either but Sydney was completely anticipating a change in her beta before the sun came up in the morning. Charlie had confessed that having her dad around presently would help her, at least that way she'd have someone who knew her well, someone who had been dealing with her and her full moon state since she was a tot.

"On the bright side, at least she didn't shift into a full blown wolf." Ethan teased and broke Sydney out of her little reverie. She had completely missed most of the story, but her thoughts were elsewhere, understandably so.

It had been a few days since there had been any word of what was going on with the chimeras, a few days without any drama, and as much as Sydney liked it that way, she knew that it was merely the calm before the storm.

"Like Malia?" Sydney added and tried to keep her attention on the conversation going on in front of her. "Stiles told me that she turned into a coyote and killed her family when she was in the car."

"Wow Syd, you just put a damper on the mood." Charlie mumbled and Sydney shot her a look but Charlie rolled her eyes. Okay, so either the super moon was affecting Charlie a little more than everyone believed or she was just a little more irritable than usual.

"Sorry." Sydney sighed and turned her back to the group sitting at the kitchen table. She paced towards the living room and let a smile take over on her face as the group fell back into a joyful, teasing banter. Maybe Charlie _did_ have a point, maybe Sydney needed to calm herself and just enjoy the present moment.

She turned around to face the table once again and before she could even take a step towards them, she froze and listened to the scuffling noises coming from outside. Her hold on Bruin tightened the slightest little bit and the conversation at the table fell completely silent; apparently she hadn't been the only one to have heard the weird noise coming from outside.

"Did you want me to get it?" Aidan asked in a low tone and rose up to his full height, flashing Sydney a smile in the process. "Or if you want to get it, I can take Bruin for a second."

"Can you just…?" Sydney countered and nodded towards the door. She moved closer to her pack as Aidan headed for the door, at least if she was near her betas, and Steve, then she'd have more back up to help her keep Bruin safe.

Aidan sucked in a breath, inhaled a deep breath and shook his head as he pulled the door open, revealing a soaking wet, dripping Stiles standing there. His hand was up, his fingers curled into fists but Aidan had beat him to the punch, opening the door before he had a chance to knock. Stiles' eyes widened at the sight of Aidan in the doorway and Sydney snorted in amusement before striding forward.

"Come in, please." Sydney used her hand and waved him in, noticing the peculiar look on his face.

She took in Stiles' scent and furrowed her eyebrows together. Bruin's arm extended towards Stiles as he passed by but Sydney continued to hold her, keeping her in her grasp for the time being.

He smelled off though, something was wrong with Stiles, something was bothering him and she wasn't exactly sure what. Stiles marched into the kitchen and when Charlie patted the seat that Aidan had recently vacated, he dropped down into it with a huff.

"You here for your session?" Charlie jeered and let out a laugh, Stiles just stared at her in response. "Nevermind."

"Why so glum chum?" Sydney posed and watched for a few seconds as Aidan shut the door, flipping the lock across in the process. She then moseyed on over closer to Stiles and took up a stance behind him, looking down into his saddened eyes. "Seriously Stiles, what's wrong?"

"Scott, it's- it's Scott." Stiles breathed the words out and Sydney noticed that his heart was pounding in his chest, loud and with no signs of slowing down. Whatever had happened before he showed up at her place must've been bad, really bad. There was no way that anything good would warrant a state like the one Stiles was currently in.

"Okay, well, what about Scott?" Charlie leaned forward and offered him her hand. Stiles lifted his own hand up and made a move to reach out and take hers but he stopped halfway and let his arm drop right back down to his side.

"I uh, I don't- I told him about Donovan." Stiles stumbled over what to say before finally spilling the words. Sydney sucked in a sharp breath and held it, waiting for him to continue but when Stiles made no move to do so, she shook her head, glanced down at Bruin and tried to figure out the best way to handle the predicament in front of her.

"I take it he didn't take it too well." Charlie remarked and her body jerked as her dad rested his palm on her shoulder. "He didn't like the way you handled the situation, or was it something else?"

"He said…he told me that we can't- we can't kill people." Stiles answered and Sydney bit back a growl that was forming in her throat.

While Scott was starting to grow on her, and she no longer looked at him as a naïve child, she also knew that he wasn't as experienced when it came to werewolf stuff or the supernatural in general, which also meant that he wasn't necessarily aware that sometimes killing was the only answer.

Sydney wasn't too fond of the idea of killing people either, except for a select few that she wouldn't hesitate to hurt if the opportunity presented itself, but she was also fully aware that sometimes it all came down to taking someone else's life or losing your own.

"He's wrong." Sydney ground the words out and glanced around the table, taking in the blank faces of the twins as well as Charlie's somber expression. Steve shied away from her gaze when she looked at him and she knew, oh how she _knew_ , that he didn't necessarily agree with her at that exact moment. Well, he _was_ allowed to have his opinions, she wouldn't hold it against him, but until he experienced the same thing that she did, or that Stiles did, then he clearly knew better than to put in his two cents.

"Is he?" Stiles shot back and stared up at Sydney, searching her face for answers.

"Yes." She hissed and gave him a firm nod of her head. "He's wrong. If it came down to it, his life or someone else, he'd be stupid not to choose his own, especially if that someone else is as dangerous and threatening as Donovan was."

"You think so?" Stiles' voice was soft and laced with sadness. "Because if you _really_ think so-"

"I do." Sydney cut him off and leveled him with a glare, silencing him for just a second.

"He has no idea." Aidan added in a mutter.

"Excuse me?" Charlie piped up and looked between Aidan and Sydney.

"Scott's never killed anyone, and I don't think he'd be able to if it was his only choice. He's too good for his own good." Aidan explained.

"Some of us have to make mistakes." Stiles mumbled and Sydney reached a hand out, gently resting it on Stiles' shoulder.

"Some of us are human." Steve whispered and looked over at his daughter. "Some of us aren't as strong, or as skilled, we don't have super healing abilities or intense hearing, we have to handle things the best way that we can."

"Dad?" Charlie tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"While I'm not saying I condone killing, I also know that in dire times, people do dire things." Steve said softly and shook his head. "Sometimes we don't always have a choice."

"What are you talking about?" Charlie groaned.

"I think he's talking about my mom biting you." Sydney piped up and when she looked over at Steve, he gave her a nod of affirmation. "It's messing with fate, it's setting someone on a different path than maybe they were meant to be on. You're a werewolf because of a choice your dad made. Stiles here is _different_ because of what he did, and whether or not Scott agrees, he should stand by his friends, he should stand by the people closest to him."

The entire room fell silent and Stiles hesitantly lifted his hand up to meet Sydney's, their fingers tangling slightly as he gave her a reassuring squeeze. Charlie looked towards her dad who forced a smile in her direction before his attention fell on Sydney. Both Ethan and Aidan were looking up at her too, waiting for her to speak again.

"There are threats in this world that we don't always understand." Sydney continued but paused, sucking in a breath and letting it out slowly. "We handle them the best we can, even if other people might not see that it was the only option we had."

"Sometimes human methods aren't the answer." Steve added in.

"Scott's wrong." Sydney stated confidently. "He's wrong and you didn't deserve whatever he said, or did, to you."

Stiles bowed his head and slowly pulled his hand away from hers. Sydney gave him a pat on the shoulder once more before letting her arm come up and hug Bruin tighter against her.

The baby let out a low hiccup and Aidan stood up immediately, moving to stand in front of Sydney. Bruin reached an arm back and grabbed at Aidan with her tiny little hand, once Sydney met his gaze, she passed her baby over to him, watching with a small smile as Bruin settled into his hold.

"I will do _whatever_ I can to protect the people I care about." Sydney murmured and crouched down in front of Stiles, drawing his attention towards her. "That includes you. Tell me why you came here, tell me what you want from me?"

"I don't…I don't know." Stiles shook his head.

"Is there something I can do to help you? Some-"

"I was going- I was headed to see my dad. I think- I think I need to tell him about Donovan."

"Is he at the sheriff's station?" Sydney pressed, hoping that she had reached Stiles. It was hard to tell, the sad look was still in his eyes, but his heart had significantly slowed down from the erratic pace he had been experiencing walked into her house moments ago. "I'll go with you, if you want."

"Syd you don't- you don't have to." Stiles sputtered but she shook her head.

"Nonsense." She waved a hand into the air. "I just said that I'd protect you."

"I'll go too." Charlie broke in and plastered a smile on her face. "I mean, if you want me too."

Stiles looked between the two females, then he glanced around at the other faces in the room. Steve gave him an encouraging nod, Ethan smiled back at him and Aidan glanced down at Bruin, getting Stiles to follow his line of sight. When Stiles studied the baby in his arms, he sucked in a breath and slowly nodded his head, accepting Sydney's offer to go with him.

"I'm sorry." Stiles said softly.

"Why?" Sydney countered and stood up straight, offering Stiles her hand. He took it quickly and hauled himself to his feet.

"I didn't know who else to come to."

"I'd say you came to the right place." Charlie chuckled. "You'll be okay Stiles."

"Yeah?" He sighed.

"Yeah." Sydney nodded her head with a grin. "You've got me."

"And that's all you really need." Charlie teased but a small bout of laughter echoed in the kitchen from the rest of the guys. "Come on, let's get going, I'm dying to get out and just _feel_ the moon."

Sydney closed in on Aidan and leaned down, pressing a kiss to the top of Bruin's head. He nodded at her, signaling that he could handle the house, he could take care of Bruin while she was gone, and with his silent reassurance, Sydney lifted her hand up and waved at Steve and Ethan. Charlie took a few seconds and hugged her father tightly, even letting him press a kiss to the side of her head without being embarrassed.

"Be safe!" Steve called out to the trio as they headed for the door.

"If you need anything, you call!" Ethan added in.

Without hesitating for another second, Sydney grabbed her leather jacket from the front hall, Charlie following suit, and the three of them disappeared outside.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie was stuck in the back while Sydney was sitting comfortably on the passenger seat. Sydney had her elbow against the window and her eyes were locked on the scenery blurring by outside, Charlie had her elbows resting on the back of the seat while she studied Stiles' head from behind, wondering what it would be like to be him.

There was a lot about the guy that she didn't know but there was also a lot that she _did_ know. Sydney had done a decent job in telling her what she needed to understand about Stiles and it hadn't taken long for Charlie to see exactly what Sydney was talking about. He was special, he was a good person and while sometimes he was a little quick to speak his mind, he had grown on her real fast.

"Remember that time we discussed superheroes and which one you'd be?" Sydney asked, breaking the silence and looking over at Stiles. "And you said that you saw yourself as more of a Nightwing type?"

"What?" Charlie grunted from behind them.

"Yeah, he totally said he'd be Nightwing if we lived in a world with superheroes." Sydney's eyes widened as she looked back at Charlie.

"What's that have to do with- what's it matter?" Stiles spoke and readjusted his hold on the steering wheel as they whizzed down the road. "Why are you even bringing that up?"

"Well I just want to know if your opinion's changed." Sydney tilted her head to the side and waited. Stiles stole a quick glance at her and lifted his one hand up in surrender, implying that he didn't understand what exactly she was asking.

"Stiles is more like Batman to _me_." Charlie offered up with a shrug before relaxing back into her seat. She tipped her head back and looked up at the ceiling, waiting for the conversation to continue.

"You think so?" Sydney shifted so that she was sitting sideways, which gave her a better vantage point to look at Charlie and Stiles at the same time. "I'm inclined to agree."

"Batman didn't kill people." Stiles muttered.

Sydney looked back at Charlie and lifted her hand up, wiggling her fingers at her beta as if to encourage her to field his objection. Charlie let her head fall forward and then proceeded to gently poke Stiles in the back of the neck, making sure that she had his attention even if his eyes were locked on the road ahead of them.

"That's not really true. I mean, I guess he had that 'no guns' rule or whatever but that doesn't mean that he didn't inadvertently cause some people to die."

"Plus there are lots of superheroes who aren't all that noble." Sydney tossed out and Stiles stole another quick glance at her, this time a little longer, just long enough to roll his eyes at her.

"And if we're talking Nightwing comics, right, like you think you are, he _did_ beat the Joker to death-"

"He brought him back!" Stiles protested and Charlie raised her hands in surrender. "You've made your point."

"Maybe." Sydney shrugged. "But I still want to know if your opinion on who you'd be in the superhero universe has changed."

"I don't know, I guess…I mean, sure."

"See."

"Since we're on the topic, do you think of yourself as someone different than Harley?" Stiles shot back in the hopes that he could turn the conversation around on her. Sydney merely smirked in response and pointed at him.

"Harley Quinn is a hero in her own right." Charlie stated nonchalantly. "She was pretty badass too, aside from her mental lapse in being with the Joker, she's pretty much one of my favourites."

"Fine." Stiles grumbled. "You win okay. I get it, heroes aren't always heroic and villains aren't always heinous."

"Out of curiosity, who else was part of this debate back in the day?" Charlie asked with a smile of her own.

"Peter." Sydney nodded.

"Who was he?"

"The Joker." Sydney answered.

"Yeah, I mean, I've never met the guy but from what I've heard…definitely sounds about right." Charlie let out a contented sigh and relaxed in the seats.

Sydney smiled back at her beta and then locked her eyes onto Stiles, taking in the sight of him. He was still a good man in her books but it was obvious that he was starting to doubt himself, not that she could entirely blame him. When she had let her eyes fall from golden yellow to the cold steel blue of a killer, she had felt something in her break. It had taken quite a long time before she felt herself feeling confident again, and she could only imagine how hard it was for Stiles to deal with, and on top of everything, his best friend hadn't supported him.

She let out a soft sigh of her own and leaned against the door, letting her hands fall down so that her palms rested on the seat, but what she felt against her left hand didn't feel like the material she was sitting on, no, it felt like a hard, cold metal rod. Sydney carefully gripped the object in her hand and lifted it up, looking at the wrench that she held firmly in her hand. There was red and brown spattered on the surface and Sydney could smell the faint scent of stale blood.

"What you got there Syd?" Charlie questioned from the back seat and Stiles glanced over at his passenger, taking in the sight of the object in her hand.

"Wrench." Sydney answered simply and made a move to set it back down on the seat, but Stiles' heartbeat picked up in pace the slightest little bit.

Before she could open her mouth to ask him what was bothering him, smoke started billowing out from the dashboard of the jeep, filling the cab quickly. Charlie held her breath, as did Sydney, while Stiles maneuvered the vehicle onto the side of the road, where it promptly proceeded to make sputtering noises before stopping all together.

Sydney set the wrench down on the seat but noticed that Stiles looked down at it, staring at it as though it were evil. She shook her head and made a move to get out of the jeep and into the fresh night air, Charlie climbing over from the backseat and nearly falling to the pavement as Sydney stepped outside.

Stiles followed their lead but he slammed his door shut and marched to the back of his jeep, nabbing the case of tools that resided there. Sydney and Charlie both flinched as Stiles angrily threw the case onto the road not too far from the jeep, then he proceeded to lift the hood before stomping back over to the case and picking it up.

Sydney motioned for Charlie to get behind her and Charlie did just that, tucking her body behind Sydney's in case Stiles did something erratic. The two girls simply watched as he opened the lid on the case and went rigid, whatever was inside had thrown him off and when Sydney took a step closer so that she too could see inside, she realized almost instantly what the problem was.

There was an empty slot, an empty space in the case for the very wrench that she had her hands on not more than a minute earlier and it didn't take her very much more to deduce that Stiles' frustration, his uneasiness at what had happened to Donovan, between him and Scott, was taking its toll on him.

"Stiles!" Sydney tried to plead with him but Stiles whipped the case of tools across the road before she even knew what was happening. She took a step back, taking Charlie with her, as Stiles headed right for the passenger side, ripping the door open and grabbing hold of the blood covered wrench residing on the seat. "Stiles please?"

He paused for a split second and met her eyes, but he didn't respond, instead, he slammed the passenger door shut too and marched back into the middle of the road, retching his arm back and preparing to throw the wrench out onto the pavement with the rest of the case. He stopped with his arm in midair and turned towards the jeep.

"Stiles!" Charlie's voice cut through the crisp night air and he glanced at the two of them for a split second before letting loose and throwing the wrench as hard as he could directly at his jeep.

It impacted against the front windshield and sent pieces of glass shattering every which way, Charlie whimpering at the sight, flashes from the night that Parrish had broken Sydney's car window to get to her flickered through her mind. Charlie reached out and latched onto Sydney's hand, who gripped her fingers right back.

"Stiles you have to calm down." Sydney spoke softly and in what she hoped was a soothing tone. He met her eyes but then turned his back to her, rounding the front of the jeep and leaning his back against the driver's side.

Slowly and with immense caution, Sydney led Charlie around the jeep and shook her head at the sight of Stiles sitting on the ground with his back against the front tire of the jeep, clearly defeated, not that she could blame him. After what he had been through over the past few weeks, she was surprised that he had held it together as long as he had.

"Stiles, it's okay." Charlie's voice was still small but he heard her, he heard her loud and clear, looking up at the two girls with wide eyes. "We can fix this, we can fix all of this."

"She's right." Sydney added in and reluctantly let go of Charlie's hand before lowering herself down to sit next to him on the pavement. Charlie followed her alpha's lead and sat down on Stiles' other side, even going as far as to rest her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know that we can." Stiles muttered and Sydney reached out, taking his hand in hers. She squeezed it roughly and tried to draw out as much of his pain, emotional and physical, as she could. He simply remained silent as he watched both of their veins turn black, a far cry from the colour their veins had turned when he had been possessed by the nogitsune all those months ago.

"We can, and we will." Sydney murmured and felt Stiles relaxing the tiniest little bit beside her. "Trust me."

Stiles turned to face her and met her glowing red eyes. He let out a low sigh of frustration and looked out at the vacant road, taking in the feeling of the crisp cool air around him.

"There's always a way to fix things." Charlie whispered and felt the weight of his head resting against hers. She let her eyes fall shut as she took in the calming sounds of the night, as well as the feel of the fresh air on her skin.

"Come on, I can call the twins at home, someone there can come and pick us up-"

"Malia." Stiles cut her off. "I can call Malia."

Sydney clamped her mouth shut and didn't bother to argue. Stiles didn't sound like he was in the mood for arguing and as much as Sydney wasn't a fan of the werecoyote, she knew that maybe Malia was someone that could help Stiles, even if it was starting to feel like maybe no one really could.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Syd and Stiles back in action! Please tell me you guys are still enjoying this?_**

 ** _Thank you to those that reviewed!_**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: Aidan and Syd would make an explosive pair ;)_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Yes, yes the twins totally got a chance to see Peter putting someone else before himself (must've been weird lol)._**

 ** _Bleeding Blue Kunoichi: I will definitely agree with you. Aidan and Sydney would be great together but only if Peter was completely out of her life. Right now, he's merely the person that she goes to when she needs someone who will support her and also understand the things that have gone on. Thank you for the splendid review!_**


	36. Chapter 36

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 36** **:**_

By the time Stiles had called Malia and she finally showed up, the sun was up high in the sky. Sydney hadn't realized how late it had been when Stiles had shown up at her house the night before but seeing as it wasn't too long of a wait before Malia did show up, she figured that it hadn't been as early as she originally thought.

Charlie had fallen asleep next to her as they had sat on the pavement waiting for not only Malia but the tow truck to get a move on. Once the tow truck took off down the road, the busted jeep attached to the back, Sydney had woken Charlie up, who was laying on the grass on top of Sydney's leather jacket.

"We're heading out now." Sydney said softly as she crouched down next to her beta, who was waking up and stretching her limbs, feeling the muscles pulling and uncramping from her uncomfortable position on the ground. "That is, of course, if Malia will let me in her car."

Charlie glanced past her alpha and met Malia's gaze, which was locked on Sydney's back. Stiles was standing next to his girlfriend and he turned away from the three of them, watching sadly as his jeep disappeared around the corner.

"It's fine." Malia threw her hand into the air nonchalantly, waving off Sydney's concerns. While it was evident that there was still tension between Sydney and Malia, Peter's daughter, it seemed that whatever they had between them wasn't as big as helping Stiles. Perhaps if circumstances were different, Sydney could've put aside her issues with Malia and actually accepted her for who she was.

"All right." Sydney nodded and extended a hand to Charlie, who took it in her grasp and used it as leverage to haul herself to her feet. Once she was standing, she bent over and grabbed Sydney's jacket off the ground, using her hand to brush it off before holding it out for Sydney to put back on.

Slipping her arms into the sleeves and shrugging her shoulders as the jacket situated itself against her body, Sydney let out a soft sigh and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Come on, let's get a move on." Charlie announced with a yawn and headed for the back of Malia's car. She pulled the door open and hopped in, Sydney following suit on the opposite side.

Malia climbed into the driver's side while Stiles reluctantly clambered into the passenger side. He didn't look anywhere except straight, obviously upset over the whole jeep incident, and that wasn't even getting into the pent up emotions from his confrontation with Scott.

Sydney slid closer to Charlie and let her beta rest against her, relaxing into Sydney's hold as she let out another yawn.

"Did you call Aidan and ask him how Bruin's doing?" Charlie asked in a mumble and Sydney forced a smile onto her face, catching Malia's gaze reflected in the rearview mirror.

"I did." Sydney answered in a soft tone but it was too late to avoid. Malia had clearly heard every word.

"Who's Bruin?" The werecoyote questioned and Stiles' body stiffened at her inquiry.

"Um, she's my daughter." Sydney murmured.

"You have- you have a daughter?" Malia glanced over her shoulder and stole a look at Sydney before turning to face the road in front of them.

"Yeah, she's a few weeks old." Sydney stated vaguely and felt Charlie curl up closer to her.

"Well…" Malia trailed off and Sydney couldn't tell what was running through the young woman's head. It wasn't hard to conclude that Malia was probably trying to figure out who Bruin's father was, maybe she was concerned for Bruin's well-being.

"She's technically your half-sister." Charlie pointed out.

"So Peter's her dad too?" Malia pressed but it was clear by the look on her face that she wasn't pleased with this new information.

"Yeah, much to my dismay." Sydney mumbled and straightened up in the seat. "Trust me, she was just as much of a surprise to me as she is to you right now."

Malia fell silent and sucked in a breath, digesting the information. Stiles looked into the backseat and caught Sydney's gaze, who was trying to keep her own emotions in control. She hadn't really expressed out loud that Bruin wasn't nearly as easy to accept as she had made it out to be, finding out she was pregnant had been one of the most terrifying things she had ever had to deal with, but now that Bruin was here, now that Bruin was a part of her life, Sydney couldn't imagine her world, her life, any other way.

"How's the jeep?" Charlie asked, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over them.

"Can they fix it?" Malia added, evidently thankful for the topic change.

"There's not enough duct tape in the world to fix that thing." Stiles replied as he slunk down in the seat.

"Maybe you should try something other than duct tape." Malia pointed out and Charlie nodded her head in agreement.

"Maybe you can come with me when I go get Syd's car fixed." Charlie offered and looked to Sydney, who nodded her agreement.

"What?" Malia barked.

"It's just the window, it's busted." Sydney replied nonchalantly, purposely leaving out the part where Jordan Parrish had broken it to get to Charlie, which had resulted in Charlie's claws ripping and shredding Sydney's arms as she tried to keep her beta inside the vehicle.

"What's wrong with the jeep? Do you know?" Charlie added in, looking between Stiles, Malia and Sydney.

"It's got a bad alternator, you know, needs all new belts, transmission's going, the brake pads are basically metal on metal." Stiles explained and Sydney winced at everything that was wrong with the vehicle. The poor guy hadn't even managed to take care of his jeep, the same jeep that he had vowed never to give up on when they had traveled to Mexico all that time ago.

"How come you let it get so bad?" Malia's voice was soft and laced with sadness. If she was feeling anything even remotely similar to what Sydney was feeling, then the girl was probably broken hearted over Stiles and what he was going through.

"There's been a few distractions, if you haven't noticed." Stiles fired back calmly.

"I notice." Malia pointed out. "More than you think I do."

Stiles looked over at Malia and Sydney relaxed into the backseat, hoping that for the present moment she could drift away and not bother them. She knew that things weren't as smooth or as nice as they had once been with Malia, but she had no idea how much everything was starting to take a toll on Stiles. Sydney was starting to miss the Stiles she had first met, the happy, excited teenager who was willing and ready to do whatever he could to help those around him.

She knew that there was no going back to that person, not for Stiles anyway, but that didn't make it any less sad having to watch him spiral further and further from who he had been once before.

"Uh, I didn't mean it like that-"

"Am I taking you home?" Malia cut in and Sydney sucked in a breath, trying to figure out if there was something more she could do to help either of the two in the front seat.

"No." Stiles answered. "Sheriff's station, I got to talk to my dad."

The remainder of the car ride was silent, the only sounds were from Charlie who continued to try and get more comfortable, even letting her eyes fall shut from how tired she was. Sydney made a mental note to find the poor girl some coffee when they got to where they were headed.

After a few more turns and a long, awkward silence, Malia pulled into the parking lot next to the Sheriff's station. She put the car into park and glanced over at Stiles. Sydney promptly gave Charlie a shove and then proceeded to make her own way out of the car, quickly walking around the trunk and coming up behind Charlie just as her feet were solidly on the ground.

Charlie let Sydney slip her arm around her and the two females took a few steps away from the car, giving the two inside a little more privacy, which wasn't much at all considering Sydney could still hear every word exchanged between Stiles and Malia.

"You want me to go in with you?" Malia asked.

"No, it's okay. It's probably going to take a while." Stiles replied and hesitated.

Sydney watched him from outside of the car, Charlie still standing right next to her, as they waited for Stiles to say what he needed to say. She wasn't going to rush him, not by any means, but she knew that sometimes it was easier to handle situations like Band-Aids and just get to the point, rip the Band-Aid off so that it only hurt for a few seconds.

Stiles pushed the door open a few inches but Malia spoke before he could go anywhere.

"Are you going to tell him about Donovan?" Malia pressed and Stiles' eyes widened slightly in surprise as he pulled the door shut once more.

"You knew?"

"I guessed." She motioned towards his arm with her head. "I saw the bite on your shoulder while you were sleeping. It didn't matter to me, that's why I never said anything."

"It matters to me." Stiles responded softly and before Malia could get another word in, before she could think of what to say in response, Stiles popped open the door and made his way out, gently shutting the door behind him before heading right for the front doors. Sydney and Charlie trailed along behind him, Sydney pausing before they went inside to wave at Malia, who, much to Sydney's shock, waved right back at her.

Once the trio was inside, Sydney led Charlie over to the side and let Stiles head to the front desk on his own. She wasn't going to let him out of her sight though, no, she was here to protect him, to keep him safe, and she knew how 'safe' the sheriff's station could really be, which wasn't always very safe at all.

The blonde deputy behind the desk was unfamiliar to her but then again, the only deputy she really knew was Parrish and she figured that with everything going on with him, he wouldn't be on desk duty anyways.

"I'm here to see my dad, the uh, the sheriff." Stiles stated and the deputy behind the desk gave Stiles a nod of understanding.

He lifted up the phone on the corner of the desk and pushed a few buttons, resting the receiver against his ear. Sydney tuned out the conversation that the deputy was having with whoever was on the other end of the line, but she never let her eyes fall away from Stiles, the poor, saddened, broken boy in front of her.

"You okay?" Charlie asked in a hushed tone and Sydney glanced over at her friend.

"Yeah." Sydney nodded solemnly and the two girls merely watched the two in front of them, waiting for Stiles to move again so that they could follow him.

Charlie ran her hand down Sydney's arm and intertwined her fingers with her alpha's giving her a reassuring squeeze. Whatever was going to happen from that moment on, Charlie needed her to know that she was right there, she'd be right next to her alpha for as long as she needed her.

The deputy behind the desk set the phone back down on the cradle and met Stiles' eyes but managed to steal a quick look at Sydney and Charlie behind him. He gave a slight shake of his head before speaking.

"Sheriff left half an hour ago." The young, blonde haired deputy explained to Stiles as Sydney and Charlie hung back. "He said he was on his way back."

"Okay, thanks. I'll just wait in his office."

Without another word between anyone, Stiles glanced back at the two girls and waved them forward. Whatever was going to happen, whatever Stiles was going to say to his dad, Sydney was going to be right there with him, for as long as he needed her. Charlie was going to stick right by her alpha too and until they did what they needed to do, no one was leaving anyone's side, not any time soon anyways.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Stiles was sitting comfortably in his dad's office chair while Charlie was sprawled out in the chair across the desk from him. Sydney was pacing around the room, looking at anything she possibly could, which included the occasional file folder, the front only of course, but nonetheless, it was enough to keep her from being bored.

They had already been waiting for a little while and none of them had really said much to each other. Sydney figured Stiles was too caught up in his own head, trying to figure out the best way to tell his father, the sheriff, about Donovan and what had happened to him. Charlie looked tired and it was easy to see, from the way her eyes kept drifting shut, that she was ready to head home and climb into bed, but that wasn't something she _wanted_ to do. Sydney had offered to call one of the twins, or even Steve, to come and pick her up but Charlie had insisted that she was sticking by them, no matter how long it took.

Stiles leapt up from his chair and leaned against the edge of the desk, letting out a loud sigh, apparently he was growing bored, and maybe it had to do with the fact that his father hadn't shown up yet, but Sydney could tell that he was anxious, rightfully so.

"I don't- I don't get it." Stiles muttered and dropped his gaze down to his feet. He sucked in a nervous breath and Sydney stopped in her pacing before locking her attention onto him.

"You don't get what exactly?" She pressed, slightly confused as to the exact concern that he had. There were a few things that she didn't get at that very moment, she didn't get why Scott had so easily thrust his best friend aside for the reason that he did, she didn't understand the obvious tension between Stiles and Malia, who were supposed to be a couple and she mostly didn't understand why everything was playing out the way it was.

Something was happening to Scott's pack, something bad and if it hadn't been for Charlie there to keep an eye on everyone for her, Sydney wouldn't really have known about anything at all: the Dread Doctors, Theo and even the idea that there were strange abominations to the supernatural world running around Beacon Hills.

"I just- I don't get…I don't get all of it. I don't understand why this is happening." Stiles let out a sigh and dropped down into the chair once again. Charlie straightened up in her seat and shook her head, trying to force away the tiredness creeping through her body.

"Because Scott doesn't see the bigger picture maybe?" Charlie offered with a shrug and Sydney looked at her, giving her a nod to continue speaking; her theory was interesting and she definitely wanted to hear more. "Maybe…he's too busy trying to protect and save everyone that he's not looking at the bigger picture. There's more to all this than the Dread Doctors turning teenagers into chimeras, there has to be, right?"

"Uh yeah, I uh, I guess so." Stiles tipped his head up and met Charlie's gaze.

"They're experiments, they're failing experiments, which means that at some point, they're going to create a success and, not to freak you guys out or anything, but what happens when that happens?" Charlie glanced between Stiles and Sydney. " _Why_ are they doing what they're doing?"

Sydney kept her gaze locked on Charlie and out of the corner of her eye, she caught Stiles' movement. He stepped around the desk and leaned against the front edge of it, letting out a huff of frustration at the entire situation.

"And you think that Scott's distracted by the 'here and now', so much that he's not looking far enough into the future?" Sydney questioned with the hopes that maybe it would spark something in either Charlie or Stiles.

"Their motive is more than just creating chimeras you mean?" Stiles spoke up and both girls looked at him.

"Exactly." Charlie smiled softly but quickly dropped it. "They're here for a reason, they have a purpose, but we have no idea what it is, we have no idea what they want."

"And Scott's too busy trying to protect their failing experiments to focus on their end game." Sydney added in with an encouraging nod. She studied Stiles quickly and found herself wondering why Scott would ever let him walk away. Even if Stiles _had_ done something that he didn't agree with, Stiles was brilliant and didn't Scott need someone to back him up, someone who was as good as Stiles was at figuring things out?

"I get it, from his perspective though." Charlie remarked. "I don't like seeing people get hurt either, especially innocent people, but there's something bigger at play here."

"So if we can figure out what the Dread Doctors want, maybe we can figure out a way to stop them?" Sydney suggested, Charlie giving her a nod of approval while Stiles lifted his hands up, resting his palms on the top of his head and letting his elbows stick out the side.

"Is it that simple?" He asked and sucked in a breath, holding it while the two girls held each other's gazes.

Sydney considered Stiles' question, as did Charlie. It couldn't possibly be _that_ simple but at least that would give them somewhere to start, a point at which they could try to come up with another theory on how to stop them from doing whatever it is they were trying to do. A starting point was definitely better than their current situation, which involved a lot of running around and trying to help people only to have them taken right out from under them.

Charlie rose up from her chair and took a few steps closer to Stiles, Sydney following her lead but going one step further and placing her hand on Stiles elbow, signaling for him to lower his arms. He did as she silently requested and crossed his arms over his chest before letting out a low sigh.

"How do we figure out what they want though?" Stiles posed the ultimate question.

"Well, maybe if we start with the idea that they're trying to create the ultimate chimera-"

"What would the benefit of that be though?" Charlie cut off her alpha and Sydney narrowed her eyes on Charlie, but Charlie raised her hand in defense. "I mean, what's the use of having a genetically modified supernatural creature when they, themselves, are as powerful as they are?"

Stiles turned his attention towards Charlie but didn't respond. Before Sydney could say anything either, the lights within the entire station fell dim and a loud, irritating siren began wailing through the rooms.

Sydney focused her ears in on the chaos outside of the sheriff's office and listened to almost everyone's heart picking up in pace. Charlie leaned forward and took a deep inhale, trying to get a scent on anything that seemed out of place.

"I can smell burning." Charlie murmured and moved to stand in front of Stiles while Sydney immediately took a stance in front of her, using her body to shield the two of them in case something dared to threaten them.

"Wait, maybe we can…maybe we can get a good look at-"

Stiles didn't bother to finish his sentence, instead, he gently shoved Charlie out of his way, then he stepped around Sydney and bee lined it for the door to the sheriff's office, the siren still blaring loudly in the building.

Charlie and Sydney darted forward and took up a stance behind him, the three of them standing in the closed doorway, watching as the lights flickered and the smell of burning got more and more potent.

"What the hell?" The same blonde deputy as before, the one that let them in, moved around the desk and drew his weapon, leading the charge as a few others followed his movements.

Stiles spotted the root of the chaos and ripped the door open, darting forward. Sydney quickly followed his lead but she pushed Charlie back into the room in an act of protection; whatever was happening, Charlie would be safer in the sheriff's office, which is exactly where Stiles would be heading as soon as Sydney laid her hands on him.

"Look!" Charlie shrieked and stumbled backwards from the force of Sydney's shove.

Sydney turned her head to face down the hall and her eyes landed immediately on Jordan Parrish, who was walking almost robotically towards them, his eyes glazed over.

"Hey!" Sydney yelled but Jordan didn't budge, he didn't even flinch, instead, he just kept coming at them, the deputies all with their weapons drawn and panicked expressions on their faces.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! Get back!" Stiles screamed and waved his arms at the deputies frantically, trying to get them out of Jordan's path. "Stay out of his way!"

The deputies hesitantly lowered their guns and moved out of Jordan's way as he continued to push forward. Sydney held back and took her place behind Stiles as he retreated towards the door to the sheriff's office, moving to the side to let Deputy Parrish pass them by without engaging him.

She cocked her head, glanced back at Charlie and watched Jordan keep walking until he walked right through the front doors. Stiles took off after him and Sydney waved her hand at Charlie, motioning for her to come along as she too took off though the front doors, pausing once they were outside in the darkening night sky only to make sure that Charlie was right behind her.

"What the hell's wrong with him?" Charlie called out to Sydney and Stiles as she ran along behind them, slowing down to match Sydney's pace once she finally caught up.

"It's almost like he's in a trance, maybe it's the same sort of thing that happened the night he attacked you." Sydney offered up and when Stiles' pace decreased, she closed the distance between him and her and then slowed down to match his pace. "He didn't know what he was doing that night, at least he claimed he didn't, if he's in a trance, it _would_ explain why he attacked us all."

"So how do we stop him?" Charlie asked and the three of them stopped running, taking up a quickly paced walk instead. Jordan Parrish wasn't moving very fast himself and Stiles seemed to have a plan on what to do with him, which left the girls to fall in behind Stiles, hoping that he knew what he was doing.

"If he's the one stealing the bodies, we have to follow him." Stiles stated and slipped slightly closer to the building, falling into the shadows so as not to catch Jordan's attention. Stiles _had_ been there that night, he had been attacked too, his jeep had been overturned, he knew what the deputy was capable of.

"He looks possessed." Charlie pointed out and made a grab for Sydney's hand, who let her take it without skipping a beat.

At the conclusion of her statement, a bright orange flame erupted from the deputy's body and Sydney stopped dead in her tracks, Charlie following suit. Stiles continued to move forward, apparently unaffected by the fire enveloping him. Sydney watched for a few seconds, taking in the sight of her friend on fire before Charlie gave a rough tug on her arm, breaking her out of her state of shock.

"What the hell?" Sydney grumbled and matched Charlie step for step, the two of them catching right back up to Stiles, who hadn't even missed a step at all.

"Whatever he is, he's unaffected by fire." Charlie remarked in a low voice.

Deputy Jordan Parrish, now nearly naked in front of them after having burned off most of his clothing, was headed right for the impound lot. He barely even slowed down as he closed in on the gates, breaking the chain with a hard push of his hands.

"Jesus Christ!" Sydney exclaimed and let out a low growl, forcing her canines out, as well as her glowing red eyes.

"What's he doing?" Charlie hissed.

"He's after the body, it's in the- the van." Stiles called back to them and hugged the nearest car inside the lot. Sydney and Charlie ducked down behind him and watched as Jordan marched to the back of a white van, larger than a normal van, but small enough to hold the body in question.

Charlie clutched Sydney's hand tighter and squeezed her eyes shut, silently praying for something good to happen to them, surely luck would eventually have to fall on their side, right?

Jordan pulled open the back door of the van and hesitated for a few seconds before slamming it right back shut. Sydney gave Charlie's hand a reassuring squeeze and rested her free hand on Stiles' forearm, letting him know with just a gesture that she was right there with him, ready to back him up if he needed her to.

Seconds later, while they continued to watch, Jordan climbed into the driver's side, turned the van on and drove away, leaving the three of them stranded inside the impound lot, merely reduced to watching as their only real lead disappeared.

"The fuck do we do now?" Sydney cursed and turned so that her back was flush against the side of the vehicle they were hiding behind. Charlie reluctantly let go of her alpha's hand but immediately leaned into her chest, relishing in the feel of Sydney's protective embrace.

"I don't- I don't know." Stiles murmured, a slight bit of defeat laced with his tone.

"Maybe we could…" Charlie trailed off and leaned back just enough to look up into her alpha's face. "Maybe we need to call someone, maybe we need backup."

Stiles tensed at her suggestion and Sydney listened as his heart thrummed wickedly in his chest. Did he have an idea, did he have someone they could call?

"Theo." Stiles huffed and produced his cell phone. Sydney watched him carefully as he dialed a number and then lifted the phone up to his ear.

She listened to him conversing with the very person who seemed to be at the root of their problems but if Stiles was calling Theo, then who was she to judge? Maybe there was something Theo could do, maybe there was something he _knew_ that would help them. Worst case scenario, Sydney would get a chance to show him that she hadn't forgotten their little melee on the roof.

Maybe Stiles needed Theo to help them, for some odd reason, but that didn't mean she had to like it, not one bit.

She still didn't trust Theo and at that moment, she wasn't going to drop her guard. If Theo was a threat, if he wasn't on their side one hundred percent, then she wasn't going to go easy on him and with the super moon looming in the sky overhead, she was growing a little restless.

Maybe having Theo around wouldn't be such a bad idea after all, she'd just have to wait and see.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _So Malia found out she has a half sister...and the adventure continues with Syd, Stiles and Charlie_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: they are the best duo!_**

 ** _WickedlyMinx: I miss Peter too!_**


	37. Chapter 37

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 37** **:**_

Sydney was on edge by the time the truck's engine could be heard heading towards them. Charlie visibly tensed behind her and when Theo pulled into the impound lot, coming to a stop a few feet away from where the three of them were standing, her heart picked up in pace.

Stiles had his cell phone against his ear, another attempt to call Scott as he had been doing since he had called Theo, but when the truck door opened and Theo's feet hit the ground, Stiles pulled the phone away from his ear and turned to face the approaching Theo.

"Sorry, I got here as fast as I could-" Theo started to speak as he moved away from the truck, heading around the front of his vehicle and making his way towards Stiles.

Sydney watched carefully for a few seconds but Stiles was having none of that. There wasn't going to be a friendly conversation, there wasn't going to be a civil discussion, Stiles was going to get right down to business, which was evident as he marched right over to Theo, bypassing him completely and making a beeline for the passenger side of the truck.

"We got to go. Now." Stiles cut in and reached a hand out to grab hold of the handle of the door. "Parrish has got the bodies."

He gave a sharp tug on the handle and sprung the door free, stepping back as it opened wide, giving him access to the passenger seat of Theo's ride. Sydney slipped her arm around Charlie and guided her towards the truck too, wondering if this was such a good idea. She still didn't trust him but at the very least, she knew that she could take him, especially if Charlie was right by her side to help.

"Okay, wait up Stiles, wait." Theo tried to get Stiles' attention but he was clearly too busy focused on the task at hand, which was getting to Parrish and figuring out what the hell was going on.

"Parrish is out and he's got the bodies. We've got to find Scott and we've got to tell him." Stiles shot back and hesitated for the briefest of seconds. Sydney gently ushered Charlie behind her, sensing that things were about to get ugly.

"Stiles!" Theo yelled and Stiles slammed the door of the truck shut. He leveled a glare on Theo and Sydney tensed at the eerily calm expression on the newcomer's face. "I don't think Scott wants to talk to you right now."

"Yeah, thanks, I'm aware of that. It doesn't matter, he needs to know about this." Stiles fired back, his voice slightly calmer than it had been about ten seconds ago.

"Stiles, Scott doesn't want to talk to you," Theo paused and produced a card-like object, holding it up in his fingers and letting Stiles get a good look at it. Recognition registered on Stiles' face but Sydney was still rather confused, at least she was until Theo spoke yet again. "But I think your dad does."

"What?" Charlie growled from behind her alpha. Sydney didn't need to turn around and face the girl to know that she was trying her hardest to keep herself under control. She could sense it too, Theo was playing games, he was messing with them and whatever was about to happen wasn't going to be pretty.

"Your dad was looking for you, Stiles." Theo drawled and turned his back to Stiles, ultimately turning his back to Sydney and Charlie as well. "He found me instead."

"Where is he?" Stiles demanded and took a few steps closer to Theo, who was wandering away from the truck. At Stiles command, Theo paused and looked over his shoulder at Stiles, still holding the card in his hand.

"What is it?" Sydney asked in a whisper and Charlie tensed up, focusing her eyes on the object in Theo's grasp.

"It's Stiles' student card." Charlie answered in a low tone and she made a move to lurch forward but Sydney moved in front of her, keeping her back and out of harm's way, at least for the time being, until they could figure out what Theo's angle was.

"I covered for you." Theo stated calmly, ignoring the soft conversation between the two girls. He took a few more steps but turned around, looking straight at Stiles while he waved the student card in front of him. "This was taken care of, if Melissa didn't find it at the hospital. I guess even the son of a cop can make mistakes."

"Did you hurt him?" Stiles ground the words out and Sydney let out a feral growl to let both of the boys know that she was still right there, she was right there with them and she wasn't going to let Theo hurt Stiles, or Charlie, not if she had anything to say about it.

"Where is he?" Sydney threw in and clenched her fingers into fists, forcing her razor sharp claws out and into her palms. She could smell the blood, she could feel it dripping down to the pavement but she didn't care, she was going to hurt Theo, just as soon as she got the information Stiles needed.

Charlie gently placed her palms on either of Sydney's wrists and Sydney stopped clenching her fists as hard as she was. She let up on the pressure just enough to feel the tips of her claws just barely piercing her skin and when Theo shot her a smug smirk, she knew that he could smell the coppery scent of her blood too.

"I never lied about why I came to Beacon Hills." Theo carried on, quickly putting his gaze back over onto Stiles. Theo began circling Stiles and Sydney took a step forward, fully prepared to lay this kid out if he so much as laid a finger on Stiles. "I'm here for a pack: I came for the werecoyote, the one whose first instinct is to kill; I came for the Banshee, the girl surrounded by death; I came for the dark kitsune; the beta with anger issues- I came for Void Stiles. That's the pack I want! Unfortunately, it doesn't include Scott."

"What is he talking about?" Charlie asked in a murmur and Sydney simply shook her head, taking in his words. She knew that Charlie hadn't been around for some of the past events that Theo was referring to and maybe when they weren't facing off against a psychotic werewolf who had apparently kidnapped Stiles' father, then Sydney would explain to Charlie the things she didn't know. Right now though, they had bigger issues to worry about.

"Remind me later, okay and I'll answer anything." Sydney whispered right back to her beta and Charlie gave her wrists a gentle squeeze, signaling that she understood.

Theo was still focused on Stiles but so was Sydney and she knew that he was growing angrier by the second. His heart was pounding so hard that she wasn't entirely sure it was going to keep pumping but Stiles seemed to be thriving, in fact, the taunting seemed to give him the push he so desperately craved.

All of his emotions: the sadness from Scott's rejection, the anger at Theo and the fact that he had taken his father, the fear, every single emotion was coming to surface and Sydney was concerned about what Stiles was going to do, but a part of her, a big part of her was excited to see him react.

She knew that she wasn't going to let Theo lay a hand on him but she also knew that she wasn't going to stop Stiles from laying a hand on Theo. Whatever was about to happen, she knew that the entire dynamic of Scott's pack would forever be changed and it was all because of Theo. Theo: the very man who stood in front of her taunting Stiles while an alpha werewolf and her beta stood nearby, waiting for a reason to strike.

"Your heartbeat's rising, Stiles, it's not because you're afraid." Theo taunted and Sydney forced her canines out, biting back a growl at the kid's words. "The nogitsune is gone, but you've still got more blood on your hands than any of us."

"I'm about to get more." Stiles fired back, Theo coming to a stop and ceasing his circling of Stiles.

"You're a little bitch, you know that?" Sydney piped up, finally, and Charlie snarled behind her to emphasize her point. "You think you've got everything figured out, you think that you can do whatever the fuck you want-"

"Who's going to stop me?" Theo cut her off and Sydney narrowed her glowing red eyes in on him. "You? You think I'm afraid of you?"

"You should be." Charlie mumbled but didn't waiver from behind Sydney.

"Because she's an alpha?" Theo remarked with a smug smirk plastered on his face.

"Because of who I am." Sydney growled in response.

"You can do better than _her_." Theo remarked sarcastically, his eyes locked right back on Stiles. "She's not as threatening as she likes to think. But anyway, back to the point, I'll tell you where your dad is, if you promise not to help Scott."

Theo came to a stop in front of his truck, the headlights bouncing off of him and lighting up most of the lot surrounding them. Stiles reared back when his target had stopped moving and Sydney's eyes widened as he threw his entire body forward, leveling Theo with a mean punch. She smiled at Stiles, pride filling her at how powerful he was in that exact moment, but when Theo started laughing, like a complete maniac, she went rigid.

She took a single step forward and waved her hand behind her, signaling for Charlie to stay put while simultaneously breaking the gentle hold that her beta had on her wrists. Charlie remained exactly where she stood and didn't dare move a muscle. It was clear that Sydney wanted to handle this herself and Charlie would step in only when it seemed that Sydney needed her too.

"There he is! That's Void Stiles!" Theo grinned as he yelled back at Stiles. "It felt good, didn't it?"

Stiles reared back and punched Theo once again, forcing him backwards. He lunged at him and pushed him until Theo collapsed to the ground. He scurried into a sitting position and spat out whatever blood Stiles had managed to force into his mouth. Sydney darted forward and stood behind Stiles, waiting for him to show any sign of weakness, wanting to keep him safe, even in his current state of pure fury.

"You better watch your god damn mouth!" Sydney growled and gave Stiles an encouraging and supportive pat on the shoulder.

"We won't tell Scott, because you can't lose your best friend, right? Even though we both know, you never needed him." Theo ignored her advice and when Stiles dove right for Theo, Sydney launched herself right into the skirmish after him.

Stiles got in a few more licks before taking hold of the collar of Theo's jacket and tightening his grip. Sydney nudged Stiles, trying to force him aside and when Stiles reluctantly let go, she dropped down to her knees and straddled Theo's hips, pressing her forearm against his throat.

"I told you to shut the fuck up." Sydney snarled and leaned in closer to Theo, baring her teeth for him to see, but he didn't flinch, he didn't even twitch. Apparently Theo didn't realize that she was a force that nobody should tangle with.

"You hate me now too, but you'll all get it eventually, this is the hard part because you can't help Scott and save your dad's life. You've still got time, Stiles, you've still got time." Theo spoke right through Sydney, which only served to make her put more pressure on his neck.

Theo let out a strangled cough but didn't make a move to fight back. Sydney leaned forward, slipped her arm across his neck and made a move to grab his shoulder. Swiftly turning him around, she snaked her arm around his neck and put him in a headlock while struggling briefly to get him on to his knees in front of her. Once he was kneeling, she stood up but remained crouched over, putting pressure on the side of his head with the arm not holding his neck in her grasp.

"I could snap your neck you little shit." She growled, her lips right next to his ear. "No one would miss you."

"Syd wait!" Stiles called out and took a step towards them. Charlie took up a stance right next to Stiles and she locked her eyes on her alpha, taking in the murderous gaze in her irises. There was no doubt in her mind that Sydney wasn't deathly serious and all it would take for her to end Theo would be a quick twist of his neck.

"You need me." Theo hissed but didn't struggle in her grasp. "You kill me and you'll never find the sheriff."

"Tell me where he is." Stiles pleaded and took another step towards them. Sydney looked up and met his eyes, hesitating for a split second before loosening the grip she had on Theo's neck ever so slightly, but not enough for him to get away.

"Let me go and I'll tell you whatever you want to know." Theo bartered and Sydney's throat rumbled from the growl in her gut.

"Do you know anything about Peter Hale?" Sydney asked in a low, feral voice.

"All she has to do is let me go." Theo seemed to ignore her, more focused on getting under Stiles' skin. She listened for a change in Theo's heartbeat at the mentioning of Peter but there was nothing to signal he knew anything. His heart remained steady, there was no blip, no change in pace, no beats skipped.

"Syd…" Stiles sucked in a breath and glanced sideways at Charlie, who suddenly took a few steps forward.

"Syd, we have to let him go." Charlie said softly and Sydney's grip on Theo's neck tightened once again. She didn't break her eye contact with her alpha, instead, Charlie stared into her glowing red irises and prayed that they could figure this out, they _could_ get out of this in one piece and get to the sheriff, if only she'd let him go. "As much as I hate to admit it, we need him right now."

"Fine." Sydney grumbled and loosened her grip on his neck completely, sending him forward where he stumbled face first onto the ground. She pressed her foot into the small of his back and dug her heel in, finally eliciting a grunt of pain. "If you cross my path _ever_ again, I won't hesitate to rip your heart out."

Theo didn't make a sound, he didn't make a move, not until she lifted her foot up and released him, then he made his way to his feet, brushed himself off and met Stiles' anxious gaze.

"He's at the treatment plant." Theo stated calmly and Stiles turned towards the gate to the impound lot, attempting to make a move to take off. "Remember what I said, you don't help Scott."

Stiles brushed him off and broke out into a jog, leaving Sydney and Charlie alone with Theo for the time being. Sydney looked between Theo and her beta and cocked her head to the side, making sure that she had Theo's attention.

"I _will_ get my hands on you one day and when that time comes, I won't let you go, _again_." Sydney threatened and Theo didn't say another word to her.

She watched as he smirked at her one last time and then he casually headed for the driver's side of his truck. Once Theo was inside and the door was shut, he carefully backed his way out of the impound lot, which is precisely when Sydney turned her attention to Charlie, who was still standing right next to her.

"You can track Stiles' scent right?" Charlie asked and Sydney nodded her head yes. "You've got Stiles then?"

"If you've got Theo I do." Sydney countered and Charlie's lips turned upwards into a small smile.

"You sure you want to split up?" Charlie questioned but it was more for confirmation than anything. There was only one clear solution to their current predicament of the two guys heading two separate ways: the girls needed to split up.

"Yes. I'm sure." Sydney smiled right back at her beta and gave her an encouraging nod. "You've got this."

"Good luck." Charlie nodded and made a move to take off after Theo's truck, hoping that she could catch him before she had to rely on scenting his trail. It'd be much easier if she could just see him and follow him so that he was visible.

"Be careful!" Sydney called out and Charlie broke out into a run, disappearing from Sydney's sight altogether.

Sydney sucked in a breath and took a deep whiff of the air, carefully getting wind of Stiles' scent. She paused for a few seconds, looked up at the moon, said a silent prayer and then took off after Stiles, hoping that everything would turn out okay at the end of the night.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie was thanking the heavens that Theo had hung back once he pulled into the school parking lot. Whether he was looking at his phone or whatever, she didn't care, as long as it gave her that extra little bit of time to run in ahead of him.

Part of her had something to prove to him, he hadn't thought her to be much of a threat up until this point but she wasn't about to let him get away with thinking that. She was fierce, she was strong and she knew that if it came down to it, she'd fight until her last breath, which wasn't entirely something she was hoping for. If she could just get to Scott, if she could get to the library and warn him-

"You?" Theo hissed at her, quickly approaching her from behind.

Charlie turned to face him and braced herself, anticipating a fight, but before he could get close enough to hurt her, she lunged at him, driving her fists into his chest and forcing him backwards. She heard him let out a wheeze as her movements forced the air out of his lungs, but apart from his pathetic rasping, she didn't plan on sticking around too much longer. She had a mission and nothing, not even Theo, was going to stop her.

"I don't…" She struggled with her words but looked on as Theo regained his bearings and straightened up. For a split second, she wondered what Sydney would do in her position and without hesitating for another second, she opened her mouth one more time, letting out the two words that she had been biting back since the whole ordeal had begun. "Fuck you!"

She sucked in a breath, turned around and focused her eyes in on the school, kicking her body back into gear. Breaking out into a slightly faster run than seconds before, she moved forward and prayed that her attempt at stalling Theo was enough to give her the edge she needed. She could hear Theo's footfalls behind her but she wasn't going to distract herself, she wasn't going to let him tear her focus away from the task at hand, which was simple: get to Scott and warn him.

"Scott!" She called out and surged forward, breaking through the main doors and making a break for the library. She could smell blood, she could just make out shallow breathing but what alarmed her the most was the pounding heart, which was beating alongside another.

There wasn't supposed to be anyone with Scott, was there? She certainly hadn't been expecting anyone else, except, of course, Theo, who was still trailing along behind her. He wasn't wheezing, or struggling to breathe anymore, but Charlie didn't care. She had nearly made it, she had beat him to the scene!

"Scott, what happened?" Mason, was that Mason? Charlie let out a low groan and pushed her body to its limit, finally stepping into the elegant, oversized library that she had been in just a few times before.

She came to a dead stop, took a look at Mason, who was supporting Scott, and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. What the hell was he doing running around outside on a full moon, a super full moon no less? Was Mason absolutely insane or did he have some sort of death wish?

"Jesus!" Charlie remarked and turned to glance behind her. So far she had kept her lead on Theo but she knew he wasn't too far behind. While she was aware that she had managed to stun him for a second, she figured that he wouldn't go down and stay down that easily. He was a fighter and he wasn't going to just let her foil his plan, whatever that plan happened to be. "You two- what the hell?"

"It's fine, it's the super moon, it was just-" Scott started to respond but Charlie could already feel his presence.

"Bad timing, I mean, seriously, you couldn't have waited five minutes?" Theo's voice was harsh and rough and Charlie went rigid at the sound. She whipped around on her heels and bared her teeth at him, letting Theo know that she wasn't just some weak beta, she was going to do whatever she had to do in order to keep Theo's plans from going through.

"You better watch yourself." Charlie growled and took a step towards him, stopping once she was within a few feet of him. Theo didn't stop marching though and he approached her with a scowl on his face.

Anticipating his blows, she braced herself and felt his fist connect with her side. Fighting off a wince, Charlie threw her entire body forward and tried desperately to wrap her arms around his middle, physically holding him back.

"You're nothing but a weak little beta." Theo ground the words out and lifted his arms up, driving his elbows down into her shoulders. She let out a pained growl but didn't relinquish her hold on him. If Sydney wasn't here to do this, if she had to keep Mason and Scott alive, then she was going to give it everything she had.

Forcing her canines out, she gripped his torso harder, squeezing his middle until she couldn't move her arms anymore. Theo's hands clawed at her arms but Charlie shut her eyes and focused all of her energy on keeping him back, away from Mason, at least until they were out of harm's way.

"I'm not weak." Charlie snarled and made a move to twist her upper body.

She felt him moving with her and when she jerked her entire body sideways, she fought off the urge to celebrate as she brought him down to the floor, his body colliding with the tile in a sickening thud.

She let go of him and scrambled to her feet, taking up a protective stance in front of Mason and Scott. Theo made quick work of getting to his feet as well and before she had a chance to attack him again, he was moving towards her, a malicious look on his face.

Charlie wasn't sure what she was expecting, she didn't know what he was truly capable of, but when he completely bypassed her and went after Mason, she found herself confused, at least until Mason was thrown sideways.

The impact of _his_ body on the hard, tile floor made her stomach knot up. No, no that wasn't fair, Mason was human, he was fragile, he didn't deserve to be punished. Charlie held her stance and Theo turned to face her, waiting for her next move. When she didn't budge, he took a step towards Mason but she was faster, she was right in front of her fallen friend before Theo could lay another hand on him.

She dropped into a crouch and looked up at him with her glowing golden eyes, even going as far as to growl at him, baring her sharpened teeth for him to see yet again.

"I should've stayed, I should've made sure." Theo announced, staring into her eyes for a second longer before turning his attention to Scott. Charlie let out another growl, this time it was much more feral than before, but Theo didn't even flinch.

She stood guard over Mason, watching the scene in front of her unfold.

"Because now you have to kill me yourself." Scott spoke and Charlie knew by his tone that it wasn't a question, no, he knew exactly what was going on.

"Why don't you fight someone-" Charlie began yelling at him but Theo turned his head back to face her and leveled her with a glare. She stood her ground but didn't dare move away from Mason, knowing full well that if the opportunity presented itself, Theo would go right back at him.

She kept her eyes trained on him though, watching as he forced his own claws out. His fist clenched and unclenched at his side, Scott's heartbeat remaining steady, even in the face of evil.

"They're still mine. Maybe not yet, but they'll come around." Theo forced the words out.

"Not for you." Scott argued and shook his head. He shot a glance at Charlie and gave her the tiniest of nods, signaling that he had it covered.

As soon as Scott's attention was back to Theo, Theo drove his hand forward, claws out first, and pierced the skin of Scott's stomach. She made a move to step forward but Theo growled at her and she remained standing in front of Mason.

"Stop!" She pleaded. "He's hurt!"

"They're not like you, they never will be." Scott struggled to get the words out through baited breaths. His breathing was heavy, his heart was pounding hard but Scott never once faltered.

"Because I'm a Chimera? Because I'm not a real werewolf?" Theo countered and drew Scott's body closer to him, using himself to brace the injured alpha.

"Because you're barely even human." Scott rasped.

Theo charged forward, never stopping for a second as he hauled Scott backwards, knocking him onto his back on the library stairs. Charlie stepped towards them but froze as she felt a light pressure on her leg. Looking down, she spotted Mason, barely moving and needing her protection.

"You won't get away with this!" Charlie called out to him but dropped down to her knees next to Mason. "If Syd doesn't kill you, I will!"

"I'd like to see you try."

"I'll get my hands on you, I will, and when I do, I'll gut you!" Charlie barked.

Theo continued to twist his claws in Scott's flesh, forcing the life out of the alpha werewolf. Charlie sucked in a breath and held it, watching carefully as Scott's body slowly fell completely still.

Turning around, Theo freed his hand from Scott's wound and began walking out of the library. Charlie jumped up to her feet and jogged after him, watching to make sure that he left.

She trailed him until she was at the doors, watching until he was inside his truck. When the lights to his vehicle came on and he pulled out of the parking lot, she let out a sigh of relief and made a beeline for the library. If she could just get to Scott, if she could somehow help him, then maybe, maybe they'd all make it through the super moon.

"He's not, he's not breathing!" Mason cried out into the library as Charlie ran back into the room. Mason had moved from the floor off to the side to a patch of tile right beside Scott's unmoving body.

"I don't know…I don't know what to do." Charlie whimpered and cautiously approached them, falling to the floor next to Mason. "CPR?"

Mason, without a word in response, began pounding on Scott's chest, desperately attempting to bring him back. Charlie leaned down and gave him mouth to mouth as Mason paused just long enough in his pounding to do so. Together, the two of them carried on CPR until she _knew_ Mason's arms were going to give out. She could hear his heartbeat, she could smell the despair, and without a word shared between them, they both dropped right down onto the floor.

Charlie let out a huff and ran her hand over Scott's forearm. She gripped his wrist tightly and tried her hardest to draw out his pain, but she waited and waited for her veins to turn black and they never did. She gripped his wrist tighter and fought off the tears that were welling up in her eyes at the sight of Scott's limp body in front of her.

"He's…he's gone." Mason murmured and set his hand on Charlie's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze in the process.

She leaned into his side and let him hold her, the two of them sitting vigil next to Scott. Silence had filled the room, for what felt like forever, Charlie just sat next to Mason, basking in the feeling of his arms around her, hugging her tight as they waited, but for what, she didn't know.

"Scott! Scott!"

Charlie and Mason both jerked their heads around at the sound of Melissa's frantic voice echoing against the tall library walls.

"I'm sorry." Charlie whispered but Melissa just kept running at them.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Melissa dropped down to her knees and started the act of CPR, something that the two of them had already tried, and failed at. "Okay. One, two, three, four, five-"

"What are you doing?" Mason asked, breaking his own silence.

"Six, seven, eight-" Melissa seemed to ignore him but Charlie knew what she was doing, she was trying to get her son back, she was trying to fight death for him.

"What are you doing?" Mason repeated himself, this time slightly louder.

"Bringing him back." Melissa jerked her head up and started at Mason. Charlie merely watched as his mother frantically tried to get his heart pumping again. She prayed that Melissa could work magic, if anyone could help Scott, it was certainly her.

She understood that Melissa would do anything that she could to protect her son, she'd try until her own heart gave out if it meant she didn't have to lose him. Charlie held her breath and took hold of Scott's wrist one more time, trying to draw out his pain.

"But his- his heart…he- he hasn't had a pulse in over fifteen minutes." Mason remarked, his voice incredibly shaky, but Melissa wasn't stopping, which meant neither was Charlie. "You can't bring someone back that's-"

"He's not someone, he's my son and he's an alpha and he's too strong to die like this!" Melissa fired back at him and Charlie felt the tiniest bit of pain oozing into her hand. She watched as her veins darkened slightly, just enough for her to see them a little more prominently through her skin, but that was better than nothing. "Come on! Open your eyes and look at me, okay? Come on. Breathe, baby, breathe."

"Melissa, it's-" Mason tried to reason with her but Charlie knew the sort of love that Melissa had for her son, it was the same love that her own father had for her, her own father who had sought out an alpha werewolf to bite her as a baby in order to save her life.

"Shut up! He's too strong to die like this. Come on. You can do this. You're an alpha, you're an alpha. Come on, Scott, roar." Melissa wasn't giving up and Charlie's veins darkened even more as she drew out the pain that hadn't been there moments before. "Roar. Come on! Come on, Scott, roar!"

Melissa banged on Scott's chest while Charlie silently prayed that she had what it took to bring him back. She lifted her arms up and pounded one last time on his chest, which was _just_ enough. Scott's body jerked forward slightly and a roar that would rival that of a real wolf erupted from him.

Charlie let go of his wrist and fell back to the floor, letting out a sigh of relief as Melissa helped Scott into a sitting position.

She hesitantly made her way to her feet, gave Mason a soft pat on the shoulder and knew that she had somewhere she needed to be, somewhere she desperately wanted to be: in the arms of her own father.

As she wandered out of the library, Charlie looked up at the moon, squeezed her eyes shut and just breathed. All she could hope for now was that the night was finally over.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

"He's close, I can smell him Stiles." Sydney said in a soft voice, the two of them were quickly, yet carefully, making their way through the treatment plant hallways, searching for Stiles father, which is exactly where Theo had said they'd find the sheriff. The place was dark and dank and the further into the building Sydney walked, the more she felt the unease creeping through her. This didn't feel right, nothing felt right anymore, but she wasn't going to give up on looking for the sheriff yet.

She had also informed Stiles, once they had gotten to the building, that she wasn't going to let him just run into the treatment plant alone for fear that the Dread Doctors were nearby, but they had come to a compromise really quickly: Sydney would focus her senses on the room or hallway they'd be heading into and if she couldn't hear, see, or smell anything out of the ordinary, they'd rush through it without looking back.

"Good, that's good." Stiles replied as he stayed right behind her, not straying more than a couple feet away at all times. It was clear that he didn't trust Theo just as much as she didn't, which was good, at least the two of them were on the same page, _and_ in the same book.

"Stiles," she hesitated and took another sniff of the air, concentrating on the dreaded scent filling her nostrils, "I can smell blood."

"What about- what about his heartbeat? Can you- can you hear his heartbeat?" Stiles pressed and set his hand on her forearm, stopping her in her tracks. She glanced back to look at him but turned right back around to face forward.

Sydney shut her eyes and focused all of her energy into tuning into a heartbeat. She held her breath as she listened and when she finally heard the faintest beat of a heart, she opened her eyes, which were glowing red at this point, and moved forward quickly. Stiles took off after her and the two of them entered the next room in their path, which was precisely the room they had been looking for, whether they knew it or not.

Lying in the middle of the floor, his arm half sticking up in the air, was the sheriff, the very person that they had been searching for. Sydney held back and watched as Stiles dropped to the floor next to his dad's unmoving body, at least if she was standing back, she could protect them if any threats decided to show up, she wouldn't have put it past Theo to send them into a trap, but it didn't matter, she'd do nearly anything she could in order to help Stiles and his father.

Stiles gripped his father's hand in his and Sydney let out a breath of relief, following his lead and heading for the two of them herself. She squatted down at the sheriff's side and grasped his other hand, gently squeezing it as she attempted to take his pain away.

Her veins turned black as she did so and it wasn't until her phone vibrated in her pocket a few minutes later that she broke the hold she had on the sheriff's hand. Stiles didn't move a muscle as Sydney freed her phone from her pocket and hit the answer button before lifting it up to her ear.

"Hello?" Sydney questioned.

"I was just wondering…if you were okay." Charlie's voice was soft and her tone was scared and Sydney let out a sigh of relief at her beta's voice. Charlie was alive, she was alive and okay and calling her to ask if she was okay too!

"I'm fine, we're fine, well fine-ish. Stiles' dad is in pretty rough shape, but uh, how are you?" Sydney asked right back and she heard Charlie take a sharp breath, silently praying for the best possible outcome. She just wanted her pack to be okay, she wanted Charlie to be safe, she wanted the twins to be alright, and most importantly, she wanted Bruin to be perfectly unharmed.

"Alive." Charlie answered simply and Sydney forced a chuckle out of her mouth, not entirely sure what else she was supposed to do. "I'll see you at home then?"

Sydney nodded her head and caught Stiles' questioning glance before she realized that Charlie couldn't actually see them, "yeah, yeah I'll see you at home, I'll probably be a little while though, so don't worry, okay?"

"Okay Syd, be careful." Charlie whispered and Sydney debated saying anything more. She stole a look down at the sheriff's face and fought off the urge to sigh. Her and Stiles were going to have to get him to the hospital, which meant that she wasn't going to be home all that soon, but it was worth it, it was worth it so long as she didn't lose the sheriff.

"I will." Sydney let out a soft sigh and took hold of the sheriff's hand, quickly going right back into the process of drawing out his pain.

Charlie hung up on her end of the line and Sydney held her phone in her free hand, still looking down at the sheriff, who hadn't moved since she had laid eyes on him, as well as taking in the sight of Stiles, still grasping the man's hand in his. Stiles forced a sad smile at her and she smiled right back at him, trying to convey without words that everything would be okay, even if she wasn't so sure that it would be.

"Thank you." Stiles bowed his head and looked right back to his dad.

Sydney didn't say a single word in response, instead, she let her mind drift to her own child, her daughter Bruin, and she began counting the seconds until she was able to hold her baby girl in her arms again.

It had definitely been a long night and all she wanted to do was get Stiles and his dad somewhere safe, and then head home to her pack, to her _family_.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _There we have it folks, the end of 5A!_**

 ** _What do you guys think about Sydney and her total dislike of Theo? Should he be worried about who he's messing with? And Charlie, apparently she's not a fan either._**

 ** _I'd love to hear what you guys thought of the first half of season 5._**

 ** _Thank you to everyone who's been reading up until this point, I'll be jumping right into 5B, no waiting for you guys!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: I think Malia and Bruin might eventually meet_**

 ** _Bleeding Blue Kunoichi: Maybe once things settle down, Malia will have more of an opportunity to freak out lol. Thank you so much for the wonderful review!_**


	38. Chapter 38

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 38** **:**_

Charlie had, like Sydney predicted, beat her home. By the time she had walked through the door, Charlie was already sitting at the kitchen table next to her dad while the twins worked on getting Charlie a plate of food as well as a bottle ready for Bruin.

No words were exchanged when Sydney approached Ethan, who was holding Bruin in his arms, she merely stepped up to him and nabbed her baby from his hold, Ethan putting up absolutely no fight. He then handed her the bottle and Sydney moseyed on over to the kitchen table too, sitting down on Charlie's other side before seeing if Bruin would take the bottle.

"So you found the sheriff then?" Charlie asked, more to make sure she had heard Sydney right when she had called her before. "He's okay?"

"He's alive." Sydney offered with a slight shrug, her eyes glued to Bruin and Bruin alone. It had definitely been too long since she had seen her own child but she wouldn't have played it any other way. Stiles was important to her, the sheriff was important to her and they were going to be under her pack's protection whether they liked it or not. "He was bleeding pretty bad but Stiles said he was going to get him to the hospital. I'm probably going to head up there after I get cleaned up."

"Did you want any company?" Charlie offered and Steve slipped his arm around Charlie's shoulders, drawing her close to him and hugging her tight, fearful that if he let her get too far away that she might just disappear.

Charlie hugged him right back and rested her head on his shoulder, loving the feeling of her dad being right next to her. She hadn't thought too much about what was happening to the sheriff, in fact, she had tried to keep her mind from wandering towards the possibilities of what might've really happened to the man. Her own father had greeted her as soon as she had walked through the door and Charlie hadn't left his side since.

She didn't want to forfeit any more time with him and with the terrifying thought in her head that she could lose him, or anyone, at any time, she hadn't wanted to let him get too far away from her. So long as she could reach out and touch him, to know that he was real and he was right there with her, then that was all that mattered.

"I think for the time being, you guys can all just stay here." Sydney stated. "I just want to go make sure everything's okay."

"Were you planning on taking Bruin?" Charlie pressed and reached her hand out, running her fingers down Sydney's arm. "We can watch her if you didn't want to."

"That'd be nice." Sydney tossed a smile in Charlie's direction. "I'll see if I can't get her to go down for a nap before I leave."

"I might also try to go down for a nap." Charlie teased and tipped her head back, stealing a glance at her father. "Fighting Theo is hard work."

Sydney's eyes widened at Charlie's confession, "speaking of fighting Theo, what exactly happened to you tonight?"

"I think we should all be more concerned with Scott, technically he _died_." Charlie countered and everyone was staring right at her, apparently waiting for more story on her end. "Right, you weren't there…so anyways, I get to the library and I just barely beat Theo there but it's too late because Liam already tried to kill Scott-"

"Liam?" Sydney cut in. "Little adorable puppy Liam tried to _kill_ Scott? Why didn't Scott just run away?"

"It was crazy, I guess Theo put down a mountain ash barrier to keep them both inside the library, Theo can cross that stuff." Charlie replied and Sydney gave her a nod, encouraging her to get back to the story. "I don't know how, I guess it has something to do with him being a chimera, I'm sorry, I didn't get a chance to ask Theo what his deal is. Anyways, Liam was gone by the time I got there so it was just me, Mason, Scott and Theo by this point and Theo went after Mason so that I'd protect him and leave Scott open to attack."

"Which is what I would've expected you to do." Sydney threw in with a low tone.

"Theo just drove his claws into Scott's chest until he wasn't breathing anymore, then he just left, he peaced out and I haven't seen him since, not that I'd want to." Charlie paused and sucked in a breath, her mind drifting back to the scene where Scott was lying motionless on the library floor in front of her. "Mason and I tried to do CPR but it was too late and we thought he was dead but then his mom shows up and she went into like 'momma beast mode' and brought him back to life with sheer will power."

"Really?" Steve's eyes narrowed in on his daughter while Sydney looked her up and down too, wondering how she had missed all of the action. "So Scott's not dead?"

"Nope." Charlie shook her head. "His mom took him home, Mason took off and then I came here. I don't know where Theo went though."

"That's okay." Sydney sighed. "He'll show up again soon, and when he does, I'll be all too happy to get my hands on him."

The kitchen fell quiet and Charlie flashed her alpha a smile, knowing that Sydney wasn't taking Theo's presence in Beacon Hills lightly. She had been there when Sydney had nearly ended his life but Stiles needed him to be alive, he needed Theo to tell him where his dad was. If it hadn't been for that fact alone, Sydney would've snapped his neck back in the impound lot.

"So then, Theo still thinks Scott is dead?" Aidan asked, brushing off his alpha's harsh words.

"As far as I know." Charlie shrugged. "He's probably walking around thinking he killed Beacon Hills' true alpha."

"That's an interesting thought." Aidan mumbled and focused his attention on Sydney, who was already looking back at him. "And what does he think about you, alpha of mine?"

"I think he doesn't realize what I can do to him." Sydney answered bluntly. "He's underestimating a lot of people aside from just me though. He's totally brushed Stiles off, he's probably marked Charlie down as 'non-threatening', and that's not even bringing up the fact that he doesn't even know you two exist."

Sydney nodded her head in the twins' direction, Aidan's lips curving up into a smug smirk at the thought of having Theo not even aware of his presence. He could certainly cause some damage to the kid if given the chance and Theo wouldn't even know what hit him. Oh yes, the element of surprise was definitely on their side.

"He thinks that he's dealing with Scott's pack, which he's pretty much broken up." Charlie admitted. "They're falling apart and honestly, if it _was_ just Scott and his pack that Theo was dealing with, then I think he'd probably win this war."

"But it's not _just_ Scott's pack." Ethan growled. "He's going to have to go through us."

" _All_ of us." Aidan spoke up. "I don't know what his plan is, I don't know what he's thinking but I do know one thing and _that_ is that he doesn't stand a chance against the Vance pack."

"No he certainly does _not_." Sydney nodded her agreement. "This town doesn't belong to him, he doesn't get to come in here and take it."

"Then we'll just have to make sure he doesn't get a chance to." Charlie commanded. "We stop him before he causes any more damage."

"And then we take care of the Dread Doctors." Steve broke in and rose up to his full height. His hand was clenched into a fist in front of him and he thrust it into the air while Charlie rolled her eyes at his dramatics. Sydney choked back a laugh while the twins lifted their fists up into the air in solidarity. "Right?"

"Right." Sydney snorted. "How about for right now though, we just try to get through the next few hours?"

All that she got in response was a chorus of 'sounds good'. Sydney dropped her eyes down to look at Bruin and felt a small smile spreading over her face.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Stiles' eyes had been shut for a little while since she had arrived at the hospital but Sydney wasn't concerned, she knew that it had been a long night and it wasn't like the kid would've been able to sleep earlier. Considering his dad was in relatively good hands though, Sydney figured that the exhaustion was catching up to him, plus there wasn't much more anyone could do for the sheriff at this point in time.

He had been moved to surgery as soon as the man had arrived at the hospital, even if Sydney wanted to help the man by drawing out his pain, she'd have to wait until he was no longer in the operating room to do so.

Melissa McCall tossed Sydney a smile as she approached the slumbering boy and when the older nurse dropped down to crouch in front of Stiles, Sydney sat up straighter and leaned closer to him, tuning into his quickly beating heart. Melissa gently prodded Stiles' knee, drawing him out of his slumber and when Stiles' eyes popped open, he took a quick look around the room, most likely figuring out where exactly he was, before his eyes landed on Melissa.

When recognition flashed in his eyes, Sydney extended her hand out to him and rested her palm gently on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze to reassure him that she was right there with him, she was in this _with_ him.

"He's okay. Dr. Geyer is stitching him up right now." Melissa stated, and Stiles immediately made a move to stand up.

"Okay, I want to see him." Stiles countered, wrapping his hands around the arm of the chair. Sydney stayed in her own uncomfortable hospital chair though and watched, Melissa pressing her hand against Stiles' shoulder and keeping him in a seated position.

"Okay, okay." Melissa said softly, reassuringly, and Sydney cleared her throat. Melissa glanced at her and gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "The anesthesia needs to wear off, it's going to be at least two hours."

"Okay, yeah, but everything's going to be okay though, I mean, he's okay?" Stiles questioned quickly and, once again, Sydney set her hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I can try drawing out some of his pain." Sydney offered in a low tone, careful of prying ears. "Maybe it'll help?"

Melissa's lips quirked upwards into a small smile and Sydney blew out a breath at the sight. If she was smiling, if she was happy with what had happened during surgery, then her and Stiles could maybe take a breath too. This was good news, the sheriff wasn't going to die, he was going to make it, he was going to survive the horrific attack that he had suffered under Theo's command.

"He's going to be just fine." Melissa remarked. Stiles leaned back in the chair and ran a hand over his head, his heart was finally starting to slow down a little bit since Melissa had woken him up.

"Oh, thank God." Stiles murmured and leaned over the side of his chair, his shoulder residing against Sydney's. He tipped his head sideways and looked at her, his eyes a little watery from the threat of tears.

"I'm not going to let him die." Sydney whispered and slipped her arm around his shoulders. "I won't. Even if that means I have to turn him."

Stiles' eyes widened at her words and he opened his mouth to reply but no sound came out. She narrowed her gaze on him and forced a smile onto her face.

"You'd do that?" Stiles managed to get out and Sydney drummed her fingers against his shoulder.

"Only if you really wanted me to." She bowed her head. When Stiles' hand came to rest on her knee, she looked back at him, holding her breath as she waited for his response.

She knew it wasn't the ideal solution but a werewolf father was definitely better than no father at all, wasn't it? It wasn't like she wanted to go in there and bite him this very second either, she wanted to give the sheriff a chance to fight on his own before she intervened, but she also wanted Stiles to know that she wasn't going to just walk away and let his dad die.

"If it comes down to the bite being the only choice, you have my permission." Stiles said in a hushed tone and all Sydney could do was nod her head in understanding.

She wouldn't let him die. She _couldn't_ let him die.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

A couple hours had passed since Sydney had last laid her eyes on Melissa McCall and maybe she had been expecting to see the woman again sooner than that, either way, when she strode through the doors to where her and Stiles were sitting, Sydney knew simply by the scent wafting off of her that she didn't hold good news.

"Stiles." Melissa said and cleared her throat. Stiles rose up to his feet, Sydney following his lead and the two of them looked right at Melissa. "This is Dr. Geyer."

"Hi." Sydney flashed the man a wave and gave Stiles' shoulder a nudge.

"Nice to meet you." Stiles tossed out casually but she could tell by his tone that he was more concerned with what the man had to say as opposed to pleasantries. "What's going on?

The doctor's face dropped and Sydney took a step back, giving Stiles the space that he deserved in this particular situation. She wasn't family, she was just a friend, what right did she have to hearing any information regarding the situation? The truth was that she didn't really have any but Stiles knew, and so did Melissa, the sort of power she had to change the outcome of what was happening.

"This is hard for me to say but we're not entirely sure what's changed since your father got out of surgery-"

"Just say whatever it is you have to say." Stiles cut in and leveled a steely glare on the doctor standing in front of him.

"His situation has taken a turn into dangerous waters, we're not sure what's happening to him but he's getting worse." Dr. Geyer explained and before Stiles had a chance to surge forward, Sydney reached out and took a firm yet gentle hold of his wrist. The doctor waved Stiles forward and led him through a set of double doors to the hallway where his father's room was located.

Sydney followed behind him hesitantly, letting go of him, and when she was within seeing distance of the sheriff, she fought back the urge to gasp at the sight. His body was all sorts of terrifying colours, his veins were too obvious for a typical healthy human being and his skin was dark and appeared bruised in places. Stiles stepped closer to the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest, also taking in the sight of his worsening father.

Dr. Geyer motioned for them to head back into the waiting area and Sydney complied immediately but her eyes never left Stiles as he lingered outside of his father's room for a few seconds longer before finally joining her, the doctor and Melissa McCall back out in the room with the chairs.

Stiles and Sydney took up a stance in front of the two medical professionals and when Stiles set his sights on Dr. Geyer, Sydney sucked in a deep breath and held it, hoping that whatever was about to be said wouldn't set Stiles off. He was in a fragile state and he needed to be focused on his father and getting him better.

"We don't know what could've caused his condition to take such a severe turn." The doctor confessed, Sydney blowing out the breath she had been holding seconds earlier. She took hold of Stiles' wrist again, trying to provide the teenager with a bit of comfort.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Stiles fired back, his eyes locked on the two medical professionals in front of him. Sydney squeezed his wrist and made an attempt to draw out his pain, hoping that the gesture might calm him down even the tiniest little bit.

"Stiles." She murmured and loosened the grip she had on him, but Stiles was undeterred.

"Two hours ago, he was fine, now it looks like somebody took a baseball bat to his neck." Stiles retorted.

"There could've been some minor internal-" Dr. Geyer began speaking but Stiles was quick to cut him off.

"Did you say, 'minor internal?', since when is anything internal minor?" Stiles was nearing the point of being irate and Sydney wasn't sure what to do to help him, she wasn't sure what she _could_ do to help him. If she could get into the sheriff's room, if she could help by drawing out his pain, then maybe she could feel like she was doing something to help.

"Stiles." Melissa spoke up in a lame attempt to soothe him, to comfort him, but Sydney knew he was beyond comforting.

"I need to know what's going on with him, okay? Dr. Geyer, somebody needs to tell me what's happening, somebody needs to tell me what's happening to him!" Stiles' voice rose up to a shout but Sydney let him go. There was no point in telling him to calm down, she knew that he was scared, terrified even, of losing his dad. Even if Sydney did manage to get enough time alone with the sheriff to bite him, there was no guarantee that it'd work; it could just as easily kill him.

"We don't know." Melissa said softly.

Stiles' body went rigid in front of her and Sydney cocked her head to the side, wondering what had crossed his mind to change his demeanor so quickly. She lifted her head up and looked straight ahead, in the direction that Stiles was looking, and through the window on the one double door. It was easy to see what had caught his attention; it was easy to catch sight of Scott lingering in the hallway just outside of the room containing the sheriff's limp body.

Stiles was angry, he was scared of losing his father and she knew that he needed an outlet. There was no way that he could keep everything pent up inside and he wasn't going to take it out on her, no, she had done whatever she could, she had been right there with him the entire night until they had located his dad, broken and bleeding out on the hard concrete floor exactly where Theo had told them to find him.

But Scott, Scott was a different story. Scott was the object of his frustration, the reason his dad had been harmed in the first place, if Scott had just listened to Stiles from the very beginning, if he had understood Stiles' reservations surrounding Theo showing back up in Beacon Hills, then maybe things could've been avoided.

Sydney made a grab for Stiles but he was already one step ahead of her, his feet moving forward as he headed right for Scott. The double doors exploded from Stiles' force, Sydney pushed off of the tiled floor and took off right for Stiles, hoping to prevent a brawl from happening right there in the middle of the hospital.

It was too late though, Stiles reached Scott before she even had a chance to stop it and he brought the true alpha down to the floor with a menacing tackle. The two boys squirmed and struggled but Stiles wasn't giving up. Scott didn't seem to be fighting back and Sydney knew that he would never lay a hand on Stiles, even if it was because he needed to defend himself against the lanky human teenager.

Stiles gripped the collar of Scott's jacket and gave him a rough shake, settling in over top of his friend. Leaning forward, Stiles got right in Scott's face, the tension in his shoulders was obvious through his shirt and Sydney cautiously approached the two of them, unsure of whether to let it all pan out or to put a stop to the fight all together.

"Where were you? You trusted him, you believed him, right, huh? So, where were you?" Stiles demanded to know and Scott's eyes widened slightly. Sydney heard more footsteps approaching from behind her and got out of the way just as Melissa and Dr. Geyer came rushing for the two boys, apparently they were more set on stopping the fight than she was.

"Hey, hey, hey." Melissa called out to them, Sydney pressing her back against the wall and raising her hands up in defense.

"Where the hell were you?" Stiles screamed again and Scott surged backwards, making his way to his feet quickly before Stiles had another chance to attack. Dr. Geyer and Melissa pulled Stiles up off the floor and Sydney stepped forward, putting herself in between the two boys.

"Stop it!" Melissa hollered and nudged Stiles back, away from Scott.

"We good?" Sydney pressed and looked between the two boys. Scott gave her the tiniest of nods and when she looked over at Stiles, she noticed him visibly relax, even if it was just the slightest little bit.

"Okay, all right, all right." Stiles gave in and let his arms fall limp in Melissa's hold.

"Your dad's not the only one who got hurt." Scott pointed out. Sydney's eyes looked him over and she noticed the spot of blood on his white t-shirt. He was an alpha, surely he should've been healed by now, but if he was still bleeding, if he was still hurt, what did that mean?

Had he been _so_ severely wounded that he was still in pain and still wounded? What had Theo done to him?

Well she knew _what_ Theo had done to him, Charlie had informed her that he had, in fact, killed him when they were in the library, but Scott was a true alpha, he was a powerful one at that, he should've been fine. Theo, now he was a totally different story.

Theo was something that she'd never seen before, he could go full wolf, he had effectively ripped Scott's pack apart, but did that mean he was stronger than Scott, that he was a bigger threat to them then she first believed?

"Oh, you'll heal." Stiles countered and waved a hand in Scott's direction. His friend was quick to gather his jacket together in front of him, covering up the patch of blood on the shirt.

"I'm not talking about me." Scott pointed out and Sydney tilted her head to the side.

"Who _are_ you talking about?" Sydney piped up and turned her body so that she was facing Scott completely. She brought her hands up and rested them against her hips, hoping that Scott would help her out this time. She knew they weren't exactly on opposing sides but she also knew that they weren't exactly the best of friends either, being mated to Peter Hale certainly seemed to cause her more trouble than she wanted.

"Lydia." Scott answered. Stiles face fell immediately and without hesitating for another second, he moved towards Scott but bypassed him completely, his eyes locked on the elevator.

"Where is she?" Stiles demanded, turning back to face them. Sydney stared at him, waiting for his eyes to meet hers and when they did, she gave him a nod.

Sydney then took a few steps towards the sheriff's room and slipped inside, glancing back through the doorway to spot Melissa giving her an encouraging smile. Without thinking too much about what she was doing, she stepped over towards the hospital bed holding the sheriff's unconscious body and gently slipped her hand around his, squeezing and drawing out the man's pain.

She just needed to keep him alive, she needed to pull out enough of his pain that he could fight this battle for himself. At this point in time, when everything around her was falling apart, she didn't know what else she could really do.

Minutes passed and Sydney continued to pull out the man's pain. She hoped that she was helping him, she hoped that the little bit that she could pull out would give him enough time so that maybe the others could figure something out, something like a more permanent solution. She'd help the sheriff for as long as she could but she knew that she couldn't handle taking his pain forever.

Sure she could swap out with the other members of her pack, and maybe Scott could get in on the action too, but that wasn't any way for the sheriff to live. The idea of biting him crossed her mind once again but she didn't want to resort to that just yet, they still had time. Sure the sheriff was getting worse but he was still fighting, he was still hanging on.

She leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss against his forehead, silently praying that things would turn out okay. He was the closest thing to family that she had outside of her pack and she didn't want to lose him.

When her phone vibrated in her pocket though, she broke the hold she had on his hand and fished it free, glancing at the screen and spotting Stiles' name. Hitting the answer button, Sydney lifted the phone up to her ear and didn't even get a chance to say hello before Stiles starting speaking.

"Can you meet us in the morgue?" Stiles requested, his voice sounding slightly panicked. She stole one last look at the sheriff and turned her back to him, heading for the door to the hallway.

"I'll be there in a few." Sydney answered and heard the line fall dead before she had a chance to say anything more. She didn't know what he wanted, she didn't know why she was needed there but it didn't matter. She was there for Stiles, she was at his beck and call, and if he needed her in the morgue, then that's where she'd go.

The journey there had taken her just over five minutes and when she stepped into the dim, cool room, she stole a look around and took in the sight of more than just Stiles. Jordan Parrish was there, so were Scott and his mom, and standing around at the head of one of the silver tables was Stiles, the very person who had called her, requesting her presence to start with.

"Parrish." Sydney breathed his name out and jogged right for him, slipping her arms around his middle and taking him into am embrace. He reciprocated the gesture, his hands moving up and down her back as he let her hug him, clearly she was thankful that he was alive and in once piece. "The last time I saw you, you were practically naked and stealing dead bodies."

"I'm okay." Jordan let out a soft sigh and Sydney reluctantly peeled herself away from him, studying his form for a quick second before turning her attention towards Stiles. "What's this about?"

"Lydia." Scott piped up. "Parrish brought her in, he said he found her at the Nemeton."

"She was practically comatose." Jordan added in and Sydney looked from one male to the other. Her eyes landed back on Stiles though, waiting for him to explain why he had called her down to the morgue when he knew that she had been with his father, trying to help him.

"Something's wrong with Lydia." Stiles explained vaguely and when Sydney widened her eyes at him, he let out a sigh and continued to speak. "I went to see her, her mom wouldn't let me in, but she looks really bad, it's like she's not even aware of where she is."

"Okay, so what does that mean?" Sydney pressed, still very much confused about the whole situation.

"It could be a side effect of shock." Jordan answered quickly.

"Shock?" Sydney turned her attention to the young deputy next to her. "From what?"

"She's catatonic." Stiles argued. "It was Theo digging his way through her mind."

"Why would he do that? What is he looking for?" Melissa questioned before Sydney had a chance to ask the very same things.

"The same thing he's always looking for: an advantage." Scott remarked.

"But why go after Lydia?" Sydney inquired. "And why the Nemeton?"

"She could find it for him, at least that's the best explanation I've come up with." Scott stated.

"Well I could've led him right to it too." Sydney said and crossed her arms over her chest.

She felt everyone turn their attention towards her and immediately knew that it wasn't a well-known fact that she was aware of where the Nemeton was located. Thinking back on it, it wasn't like she had ever been there with anyone other than Peter, but surely someone would've at least thought to ask her about it?

Apparently not, and even _if_ Theo had thought to ask her, it wasn't like he'd lead her out into the woods, especially not if she had shown him on more than one occasion that she could take him out if she ever needed to. Maybe Theo was smarter than she believed him to be, maybe sending Lydia into a catatonic state was part of his plan all along.

"Good to know for future reference." Jordan mumbled and gave Sydney's hand a reassuring pat. "So what did he gain by trying to kill Stilinski?"

"It left me alone with Liam," Scott answered. "Theo wanted to make sure no one would be there to stop him from killing me."

Sydney looked at Scott and noticed the bloodied patch on his shirt yet again. She wondered what Scott had gone through, she wondered what he had seen when he was dying. She had been through something similar, she remembered seeing her parents, them telling her it wasn't her time yet, but Peter had saved her, he had brought her back to the land of the living, saving her from the brink of death. Melissa had brought Scott back, but she hadn't done it by forfeiting any sort of alpha spark, no, she had done it out of sheer force of will; at least that was the impression that Sydney had gotten from Charlie's version of what went down at the library.

"Okay, so he gutted my dad as a distraction." Stiles stated.

"It was part of his plan." Sydney threw in. "Theo's steps ahead of us."

"Right, so, we need to find this kid." Jordan offered up as though it was the simplest solution ever. Sydney turned her head towards him and furrowed her eye brows together. Yes, of course they needed to find Theo, they needed to find him and rip him apart, limb by limb.

"Isn't that a little dangerous? Especially since he almost killed _my_ kid?" Melissa countered.

"Yeah, but he said he didn't want my dad to die." Stiles piped up.

"And you believe him?" Jordan questioned.

Sydney sucked in a breath and looked around at the group of people in the room with her. Stiles seemed relatively calm considering his father was up a few floors slipping further and further away from him, Scott was holding up okay considering he was still bleeding from his chest and Jordan, who had been covered in ash and nearly naked the last time she had her eyes on him, had cleaned himself up and pulled himself together.

Was this all they had, were they just one big rag-tag group of misfits fumbling their way through the supernatural as best as they could?

"He told me where to find him, so, maybe he also knows how to save him." Stiles' voice pulled Sydney out of her thoughts, drawing her attention back towards him.

"I know how to save him too." Sydney murmured, her mind drifting to her idea of biting Stiles' dad. "We don't need Theo to do it."

"He deserves a chance." Scott broke in. "Doesn't he?"

"What do you want to do? Talk to him?" Melissa looked directly at Stiles, knowing that this entire situation affected him the most. It was Stiles' decision, Stiles was the one that got to decide what they were going to do, he was the one that had the most to lose. If he wanted to give Theo a chance to help save the sheriff, then Sydney would fight off every single urge she had to gut the kid the very second she laid eyes on him.

"If it saves my dad, then yeah." Stiles nodded his head, looking right back at Sydney. She nodded her head at him too and prayed that he knew what he was doing. She'd follow him no matter what but the second things turned south, she'd have no problem revising the plan to better suit her own desires.

"I'll come with you, he doesn't know that I'm alive, maybe that gives us an advantage." Scott pointed out.

"He'll know you're there," Stiles was speaking to Scott and Sydney merely stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue, "I just need to talk to him, not fight him."

"Stiles, you can't go alone." Melissa seemed saddened by the idea of Stiles dealing with Theo on his own. If he was refusing Scott's help, then this is precisely where Sydney came in.

"I'm coming." Sydney announced, straightening her body up next to Jordan. Jordan shook his head at her but didn't object. "I can call Charlie too, she can meet us wherever."

"Does anyone even know how to find him?" Jordan asked, Sydney sucking in some air.

Okay, that was problem number one, that was the biggest issue of them all. It wasn't like anyone knew what Theo was up to, or what his end game was, so how did they-

"We don't have to find him. He'll come to me." Stiles said confidently.

Sydney let out a frustrated growl but followed Stiles as he stepped around the table and headed for the doors. Scott hung back but took off after him and when the three of them were out of sight of the morgue, she grabbed Stiles' hand and brought him to a stop. Scott stopped with them and looked at Sydney, before he could object, she grabbed his hand too, only she squeezed his fingers in hers and drew out some of his pain, feeling it settling in her chest.

"You two know what you're doing?" She asked and released Scott's hand when she felt like her heart was going to explode from Scott's pain.

"Not exactly, just don't do anything to Theo unless I give the order." Stiles countered.

She didn't say another word, she merely let go of Stiles and nodded her understanding.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Welcome to 5B, it's going to be a wild ride! I'd like to think that 5B is going to be a little bit more exciting than 5A and I'd love to know what your thoughts are._**

 ** _Another HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who's still reading, I appreciate every single one of you!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Syd and Charlie will be seeing a lot more of Theo in the future ;)_**

 ** _Bleeding Blue Kunoichi: I cannot wait for season 6 either so that we can get back to Peter too. Oh man, no, they can't just replace Dylan O'Brien with anyone, he's one of a kind. Ah, good, canon is kind of disappointing haha_**

 ** _CD: Oh man, yeah, I totally get what you're saying and I agree with it. It did take away from Stiles...well poop. I appreciate the review and thanks so much for the feedback, hopefully I can put things back where they should be from here on out :)_**

 ** _Guest: You and me both, I was not a fan of season 5 and I feel like it has reflected in this story. I'm more excited for season 6 and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Peter to return (I won't believe it until I see it). I can promise you that when Peter comes back, things will get interesting. Thanks for sticking with it_**


	39. Chapter 39

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 39** **:**_

They were at Scott's house. That's where Sydney had told Charlie to meet them, that's where Stiles had wanted to go and Sydney wasn't going to argue. If this was Stiles' plan then she was going to go along with it, at least until someone that she cared about was threatened. Stiles settled down on the stairs, taking a seat on one of the treads. Scott had disappeared upstairs and reappeared with one of his shirts, the very one that he had been wearing when he was attacked in the library. Sydney took up a stance in the entryway on the main floor, ready to attack Theo from the side if the need arose.

There wasn't a word between them, there was barely any sounds at all, Scott was up in the hallway hiding around the corner so as not to give up their element of surprise. No matter what was about to happen, Sydney knew that the only person who even had a chance of dying or being hurt was Theo. She wasn't going to let him get to Stiles, or Scott, or anyone for that matter.

Charlie still hadn't arrived when Theo's form showed up in the wide open front door of the house but Sydney wasn't worried. Stiles had put down a mountain ash barrier as a means of protection, but she knew, by the story that Charlie had told her, that mountain ash wasn't going to work as a defense against chimeras.

Theo stood on the step outside the door and met Stiles' intense gaze. He broke eye contact though and looked down at the black powder lining the threshold. Without a second thought, Theo stepped forward, crossing the barrier and stepping into the house. Sydney immediately let out a growl and Theo shot her a smug look; he didn't seem fazed by her presence at all but then again, she knew he was a cocky little shit who had no idea what she was truly capable of.

"I guess we're all telling the truth now." Theo started off talking, breaking the silence between them. Stiles grabbed hold of the shirt that Scott had provided to him, lifted it up and tossed it at Theo, a perfect ruse to explain Scott's strong scent in the house. Sydney leaned against the wall and kept her eyes trained on Theo, not daring to say a word, but no matter what she tried to do, Theo stole another look at her. "You don't need the guard dog."

"You killed my best friend." Stiles retorted. "Forgive me for wanting a little bit of insurance."

"Let's be honest, Stiles, was he _still_ really your best friend?" Theo questioned. Sydney pushed herself off the wall and took a single step towards Theo, straightening up and hoping that her movements intimidated him. Theo made no move to suggest that he was scared of her, even if he should've been completely terrified.

"Are you going to let my father die?" Stiles ignored Theo's words, clearly wanting to stay focused on the task at hand: which was to get the answer to why his father was dying.

"If I wanted him to die I wouldn't have told you where you can find him." Theo pointed out, smug smirk still very present on his face. She watched as he tossed Scott's bloodied shirt to the floor and took another step towards her. She kept moving, wandering around his back and taking up a stance on the other side of the entranceway.

"Then why are they saying his body is shutting down? That some toxin's poisoning him and they don't know how to stop it?" Stiles countered.

"And why do I feel like gutting you would make a lot of people feel so much better?" Sydney threw in, her voice stone cold serious.

Theo let out a scoff at her and kept his eyes trained on Stiles, "I'm not the bad guy, Stiles. I'm just a realist, I'm a survivor. If you knew the things that I know-"

"Yeah, but what do you know?" Stiles cut in, curious as to how much of what was going on that Theo was aware of. He clearly had an ulterior motive, he had it all planned out, but what exactly did the bigger picture consist of?

Were more people going to get hurt at Theo's hands or were the Dread Doctors a bigger threat than even Scott and Stiles figured?

"I know what's coming. I know what the Dread Doctors created and I know what Parrish is." Theo explained, his voice remaining calm, cool and collected. He didn't falter, he didn't flinch, unless he was really good at lying, which was a very real possibility, then he was telling the truth. That didn't mean that Sydney trusted him though, not in the slightest, but Stiles' dad needed them, he needed her to keep her composure for the time being.

"Do you know what I can do?" Sydney piped up, Theo's attention on her instead of Stiles. "Do you know who I am?"

"It doesn't matter, I know things that you couldn't even begin to imagine. Like I said, I know what Parrish is, do you?" Theo taunted and Sydney bit back a growl. "Lydia figured it out, I saw it in her memories."

"Right after you drove her out of her mind." Stiles nodded his head.

"Collateral damage but if she's right about Parrish, then things around here are going to get a lot worse." Theo shrugged them off. Sydney felt a shiver run through her spine, Theo knew what Jordan was, and she had no idea, not really. Was he going to tell them, was he going to give them a hint, or was he just going to leave it at that and let them all wonder what Jordan Parrish really is or what he's capable of?

"I don't care." Stiles fired back in a soft tone before Sydney had a chance to speak up.

"You should because if your dad _does_ survive he's not going to be sheriff of anything much longer." Theo baited but Stiles wasn't interested at all in finding out what sort of supernatural creature Jordan Parrish was, no, he was more interested in saving his father's life, not that Sydney could blame him.

"What's happening to him?" Stiles asked but Theo merely turned his back to Stiles. Stiles rose to his feet and lunged forward, wrapping his fingers around Theo's shoulder. "Hey, tell me!"

Sydney moved forward too, trying to get in between the two boys but it was too late, Theo was too fast for her. He turned around and shoved Stiles, sending him flying backwards and onto the stairs where the back of Stiles' head collided with the edge of the one of the steps. At the sight of Stiles' head rolling to the side, Sydney let out a feral growl and darted forward, trying to grab Theo before he had a chance to make it out of the house.

Theo crossed the mountain ash barrier before Sydney could reach him and once he was safely on the front step, Sydney stopped herself mere inches from the barrier. She pressed her hands against it and brought out her glowing red alpha eyes, staring at Theo as he turned to face her, the ever present smug smirk growing on his face.

"You think you're stronger than you are." Theo mocked her and Sydney spotted her beta behind him, out in front of the house on the sidewalk. Charlie was here, she was outside, she could stop Theo! Sydney just needed to convey to her beta that Theo needed to be stopped without a verbal cue. "The last time we faced each other, you promised me that you'd rip my heart out."

"This isn't over." Sydney snarled and finally caught Charlie's attention.

Charlie broke out into a run, charging at Theo. Sydney held his gaze, hoping to keep him distracted enough that Charlie could maintain the element of surprise. Whether the girl's footfalls were too loud or Theo could hear another heartbeat, it didn't matter, he prepared himself for the attempted tackle and caught Charlie.

He held on to Sydney's beta, turned them both towards the door and threw Charlie into the barrier. A shock rippled through her body and she let out a pained grunt but Theo was quick to take off, leaving them all at Scott's house with Stiles' laying out cold on the stairs.

"Charlie?" Sydney kneeled down just inside the doorway and looked at her beta, who was crumped in a pile outside. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Charlie grunted in response and struggled to get to her feet. Once she was upright though, she leaned against the outside of the house and looked inside, watching Scott rushing down the stairs to get to his best friend.

Sydney turned her back to Charlie and watched as Scott crouched down next to Stiles, calling his name and trying to get him to wake up

"Stiles, Stiles. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Scott called out to his fallen comrade and Sydney held her breath, hoping that Stiles was okay, that he wasn't in a situation as dangerous as his father was currently in.

Scott moved closer to his friend and Stiles' eyes opened quickly. He sat up just as fast and Sydney was right there next to him, watching as Scott helped Stiles to his feet. The two boys looked at each other for a few seconds and Sydney set her hand on the back of his neck, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm fine." Stiles shook his head, clearly trying to regain his bearings.

"You blacked out." Scott pointed out, a concerned expression on his face.

"I'm okay." Stiles reiterated and Sydney let out a low whimper, drawing Stiles' attention towards her. When he looked over his shoulder at the female alpha, she waved her hand in the direction of the mountain ash barrier.

Stiles took a step towards the front door and used the toe of his shoe to break the line of mountain ash, Charlie rushing in as soon as she could do so. Sydney let her hand fall away from Stiles and gathered Charlie into her arms, hugging her tight and hoping that she wasn't too badly bruised. Theo was strong, she'd give him that, but Charlie and Sydney were stronger.

It was just too bad that Sydney didn't have the ability to cross over the mountain ash barrier like Theo had, if she could've managed to get out of the house, Theo would've been a dead man.

"Did you get anything from him?" Stiles questioned.

"I didn't." Sydney shook her head. "Scott?"

"Nothing, he was calm the entire time." Scott added, agreeing with Sydney.

"What about his heart?" Stiles pressed, wanting answers so badly.

"I heard it jump, but only once, and only for a second." Scott answered.

"That's not definitive evidence though." Sydney remarked as she continued to hold on to her beta. Charlie relaxed in Sydney's hold but turned her attention towards Scott and Stiles.

"That doesn't mean he was lying." Stiles stated.

"Not really, the rest of the time it was steady." Scott bowed his head.

"When did it jump? What was I talking about?" Stiles asked. Sydney tried to think back to the exact minute when she had picked up on anything different about Theo but she hadn't been paying as much attention to his heartbeat as she had been to trying to keep herself from ripping him apart. Maybe having Scott around wasn't such a bad idea after all, at the very least, he seemed to be keeping a level head throughout the situation.

"It was when you said that your dad was poisoned." Scott answered.

"That could be something. A jump could mean surprise, right?" Stiles wanted to know but Sydney figured he was looking for confirmation more than anything.

"Yeah, yeah, I think so."

"He could also be really good at lying." Sydney tossed out.

"But why would he lie about not knowing what was wrong with Stiles' dad?" Charlie spoke up and hesitantly peeled herself out of Sydney's hold. She grabbed her alpha's hand instead and stood next to her, ready to support whatever decision Sydney, or Stiles for that matter, made.

"So why would he be surprised that my dad's still dying?" Stiles tilted his head to the side and tried to come up with an answer to the question he had just asked.

"Oh, wait. He didn't say that he was the one who attacked your dad, did he?" Scott's eyes lit up at the possibility of what had happened to the sheriff while no one else had been with him.

Was it possible that whoever, or whatever, had attacked the sheriff had inadvertently poisoned him? Had another chimera been created, one that had some sort of venom or toxin flooding its veins?

"No. Well, then this means it was probably someone else." Stiles answered Scott's question, providing them all with a clue as to what the next step in their plan could be. If something, or someone else, attacked the sheriff, then that meant they were going to be looking for someone other than Theo for the answer they needed.

"Another Chimera." Scott breathed the words out and Charlie let out a groan. Sydney couldn't help but agree, if they were looking for another chimera, then what did that mean for them? How many more chimeras were out there and at which point would they stop being failures?

What would happen when they ran into that one chimera that was deemed a success by the Dread Doctors?

It wasn't something that Sydney was looking forward to finding out the answer too.

Charlie shook her head and freed her hand from Sydney's. Stiles looked at the two girls and then back at Scott, the gears in his head were clearly turning but he remained quiet while Sydney rolled her eyes at him and slipped her arm around Charlie's shoulders.

"What do we do now?" Charlie piped up and Stiles offered them all a shrug before breaking out into a run into the other room. Sydney cocked her head to the side, wondering where he was going or what he was after but she didn't have to wait too long.

When he reappeared in the front hall of the house, he waved a set of keys in front of Sydney and Charlie, Scott watching on too, and then he proceeded to run out the wide open front door. Charlie hesitated but Sydney took off after him and once Sydney was out the door, Charlie broke out into a run after them, not wanting to be left behind. Sydney glanced back and looked on as Scott pulled the front door to his house shut tight and followed their lead.

Stiles ran around to the side of the house and climbed into the car, Sydney and Charlie following suit. Charlie hopped into the back behind the passenger seat while Sydney climbed into the front seat, watching as Scott dashed out to try and beat Stiles into the car too. It was no use, he was too far behind having had to stop and shut up his house, before he could get his hand on the car door, Stiles had successfully locked the doors, keeping Scott on the outside of the car while him and the two females were inside.

"What's the plan Stiles?" Sydney asked in a low voice while Scott ran his hand over the passenger side door of the car.

"Stiles?" Scott called out to them and Sydney turned to throw him a small smile as if to say 'what can you do'. Scott looked past her at Stiles, pleading with him to let him in, to let him help.

"Yeah, I can do the rest myself." Stiles countered and Sydney grunted, "well with Syd."

"You don't even know where to start." Scott argued. "All we know is that it's another Chimera. Do you even know where you're headed? Come on, let me help, I can find the clues that you can't."

Stiles turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life, his eyes were glued on the road straight ahead as if he didn't even see Scott trying to get into the side of the car at all. Sydney reached back and grabbed her seatbelt, clicking it into place just in time for Stiles to throw the car in gear and move his foot from the brake pedal to the gas pedal.

Scott pushed himself towards the front of the car and planted his feet on the driveway, his hands coming out to rest on the hood of the car. He was effectively standing in front of the car and if Stiles wanted to keep driving, he'd run right over his best friend. Scott stepped back and pulled his hands away from the car, holding them up in a gesture of surrender.

"Stiles, what the hell?" Sydney hissed at him. "Just let him come."

"You can't do this alone, or with them, okay, you need me. You need all of us. I can get more help, I can text Liam." Scott tried to plead his case but Stiles' stony expression never faltered.

"Liam just tried to kill you." Stiles pointed out matter-of-factly.

"But he didn't succeed." Charlie added in.

"Then at least let me help." Scott begged.

"You believed him?" Stiles ground the words out.

"You trusted him, too. Theo got to all of us." Scott remarked and Sydney swallowed loudly.

Charlie reached forward and set her palm on her alpha's shoulder, implying that Theo didn't get to either of them. No matter what though, Theo was their problem because he was on Stiles' radar. Whether they were going along to help Stiles or merely to hurt Theo, it wasn't important, so long as no one on their side ended up hurt.

"You know, you don't even know the real story." Stiles explained.

"Then tell him." Sydney supplied, Charlie nodding along with her.

"It doesn't matter though, I don't need to, all that matters right now is your dad. Come on, Stiles; we survived an Alpha pack, a Dark Druid, professional assassins; we can survive Dread Doctors and Chimeras, too." Scott spoke, his words strong and true.

Stiles bowed his head, apparently contemplating Scott's words. Charlie reached her other hand out and gave Stiles' shoulder a pat, reminding him that no matter what choice he made, he'd have her and Sydney along for the ride, literally and figuratively.

Stiles brought his eyes back up to meet Scott's and Sydney leaned forward in her seat, making a move to turn around to speak to Charlie, to instruct her to reach across and unlock the door.

"We're not looking for a missing Chimera," Stiles stated after a few seconds of contemplation, "we're looking for a missing teenager."

"Get in." Charlie waved Scott forward and she reached across, pulling the lock on the back door up and letting him get into the car. Sydney set her hand over top of one of Stiles', holding him steady and letting him know by just her touch that she wanted Scott on their side.

Without putting it off for another second, Scott stepped away from the front of the car and climbed into the backseat, settling in beside Charlie.

"We're going to save your dad, no matter what it takes." Scott said confidently and firmly.

Who was Sydney to argue?

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

By the time the four of them made it to Stiles' house, Sydney was feeling her phone going off over and over again in her pocket. She knew that Steve was still at her place with the twins, and Bruin had been left behind, so knowing that much, she figured that whoever was trying to get a hold of her had a damn good reason.

When the car came to a stop in the driveway, Sydney freed herself from her seatbelt and hopped out, pulling her phone from out of her pocket and glancing at the screen. Three missed calls, well that wasn't that bad, except they were all from Aidan's phone. What did Aidan want? Was there something wrong with Bruin, was there a problem back at her house?

She waved the three teenagers forward, Charlie hanging back for a split second but Sydney forced a smile at her and Charlie fell in behind Scott and Stiles. Lifting her phone up, Sydney dialed Aidan's number and waited for him to answer.

It didn't even make it to the second ring before he picked up, his voice sounding much less panicked than she figured considering the amount of times that he had called her.

"Aidan?" Sydney sounded confused, even to her own ears. The question still lingered on her mind: why had Aidan called her so many times if he wasn't freaking out?

"Am I bothering you?" He asked and she shook her head with a soft sigh. No, no he wasn't _really_ bothering her, while she would've much rather have continued on with her mission without him calling her, his calls certainly weren't a bother to her.

"No." She said out loud, dropping her eyes to the ground. "What's up?"

"Well we're having some trouble getting Bruin to settle down." Aidan confessed. "She's not crying or anything but she seems almost anxious. Honestly, I think she just needs you."

Sydney sucked in a breath and felt the guilt of having left her baby at home hit her hard. Bruin was _her_ daughter, _her_ child, she wasn't Aidan's responsibility, and even if Sydney hadn't felt the need to help out Stiles, she knew that the twins worked hard for her to let her do what she felt she needed to do. They looked after the baby without a second thought, they kept her safe and protected her, hell, they put up with Bruin's crying every single time she wailed.

The twins were perfect for her pack and she didn't ever want to make them feel obligated to stay with her simply because of Bruin. She didn't want them to ever feel burdened by having to look after _her_ little girl.

"I can be there in like twenty minutes." Sydney breathed the words out and glanced back up at Stiles' house, hoping that she could trust Charlie to do whatever it is that Stiles would need their help with.

Charlie was perfectly capable, she was strong, powerful and highly intelligent. Stiles trusted her enough to let her tag along with them, what more could Sydney have asked for in a beta?

"I'll hold down the fort until then." Aidan teased.

"Okay. I'll see you soon." Sydney replied and made a move to pull the phone away from her ear. She listened to Aidan say his goodbyes and then ended the call, tucking the phone back into her pocket and making her way up to the front of the house.

The door had been left unlocked for her and she stepped inside, closing the door behind her and throwing the bolt across to keep unwanted visitors outside. What was stopping Theo from showing up and going after them all when they were least expecting it?

Okay, so she wasn't figuring on an attack from the smug teenager, but she also didn't want to leave them exposed when all it took to make her feel a little better was a flip of a lock.

Sydney heard the three teenagers conversing up the stairs and before she could think twice about what she was doing, she broke out into a jog, taking them two at a time. When she hit the top of the steps, she slowed her pace down and closed in on Stiles' room, slipping inside and listening to the three of them going over the details that Stiles had already written on his board.

"What was that about?" Charlie asked in a hushed tone as Sydney dropped down to sit next to Charlie, who was currently residing on the end of Stiles' bed.

"Someone from the house just called, I have to head home from here to check on Bruin." Sydney answered without getting too much into it. She spotted Scott looking at her from the corner of her eye but no one said another word, except for Stiles, who seemed to be talking more to himself than anything.

It was apparent that he was on some sort of a roll, figuring things out in his head before he took the time, and effort, to jot them down on the board. His cell phone was out in his hand and he had a marker gripped in his fingers, yet Scott was still studying Sydney.

"What?" Charlie piped up, catching Scott's attention. He offered her a shrug in response but took a step towards them, leaving Stiles by the board on his own for the time being.

"You mentioned Bruin." Scott stated and Sydney stiffened up at his words. "Who's that?"

"Bruin's is Syd's daughter." Stiles answered without skipping a beat. He didn't even bother to tear his eyes off the board, instead, he continued to try to figure out exactly what, or who, they were looking for. Sydney however, met Scott's questioning gaze and gave him a nod, signaling for him to go ahead and ask whatever it was that he felt he needed to ask.

She knew that the number one question most likely weighing on the boy's mind was who the father of her daughter was and without fail, that's precisely what Scott asked.

"You have a daughter, with who?"

Sydney rolled her shoulders back and crossed her arms over her chest. She opened her mouth to speak but, once again, Stiles was quick to respond.

"It's Peter's kid, that's old news, can we focus here?" Stiles finally turned his attention towards the other people in his room and suddenly, he realized how awkward the situation had gotten. Sydney was staring at him in disbelief that he so easily fed Scott her private information, Charlie was fighting off the urge to laugh and Scott was wide eyed as he studied Sydney sitting on the end of his friend's bed. "Was I not supposed to- to say anything?"

Scott looked from the female alpha to his friend and cocked his head sideways. He shook his head but let out a sigh, leaving everyone else in the room to wonder exactly what was running through his head.

"I think you were supposed to make him work a little harder for it." Charlie teased and smiled in Stiles' direction. Sydney shook her head but forced a chuckle out over her lips, well it was too late to turn back now, the cat was out of the bag and Scott was fully aware of her current predicament.

Maybe it would benefit her to have him know about Bruin in the long run, maybe Scott had a soft spot for kids? Even if they were Peter Hale's spawn?

"It's fine." Sydney scoffed and rose up to her full height. "Bruin's my daughter, Peter's her dad but he doesn't know about her. Once Peter was locked away in Eichen house, and after I left Beacon Hills, I found out that I was pregnant."

"You should meet her, she's such a darling." Charlie remarked, a proud smile taking over her features.

"Huh, oh." Scott, whether or not he was taken aback by the new information, didn't seem that surprised by the explanation. Maybe it hadn't exactly sunk in, maybe he wasn't sure what to make of it, but either way, Sydney was just glad that he wasn't freaking out on her. "That's a good bit of information to know."

"Sure is." Sydney nodded her agreement.

"Can we talk about this later?" Stiles piped up and Sydney just continued nodding. She would gladly answer any more questions that Scott had regarding Bruin, but it seemed Stiles was much more adamant about getting to the bottom of whatever was happening to his father. He wasn't wrong though, the sheriff's life was hanging in the balance and the sooner they all put their heads together and came up with an idea, the better off the man would be. "We still have to find a missing teenager."

"Fair point." Charlie smiled and kept her eyes trained on Stiles. "What did the station say when you called them?"

Stiles turned his attention back to the board, Scott moving over to stand in front of it too. The two of them stood side by side and Stiles lifted his phone up, looking down at the screen and hoping that this was the lead they needed.

"There was a call a few hours ago about a sophomore from Beacon High who never came home last night." Stiles answered and lifted his hand up, running his finger along a piece of paper containing a bunch of names. Neither Sydney nor Charlie knew where he had gotten such a list, nor were they going to question him on it.

"What's his name?" Scott pressed and Stiles' finger stopped near the top of the list.

"Noah Patrick." Stiles stated, Charlie making her way to her feet. She wandered over and took up a stance behind the two boys, setting her hand on Stiles' shoulder. "How do we find him?"

"Scent." Sydney spoke up and she too rose up to her feet. "Charlie can maybe track him by scent, but she'd need something of his."

"Where would we…" Stiles trailed off and shook his head. Was it that simple, was that all it took?

If he could get something that belonged to this Noah Patrick then could Charlie really track him by his sheer smell? In a time when things seemed to be getting more and more complicated by the second, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"There might be something belonging to him at the school." Scott offered up and Charlie bowed her head, agreeing with him. "You head home then and look after your _daughter_ , we'll head to the school and see if we can't find something to help us track Noah's scent."

"Good plan." Sydney smiled. She met Stiles' eyes and he gave her a slight tip of his head, then she looked past him at Charlie. "If you need me, for _anything,_ you do _not_ hesitate to call, understand Charlie?"

"Got it." Charlie grinned at her alpha. "Thanks Syd."

Sydney sucked in a breath and took off for the hallway. When she was out of sight, Charlie took a step back and looked at the board in the middle of Stiles' room. His dad's life depended on them, they had to get to the school and hope that Noah Patrick left behind something that would help them, then she'd have to do her hardest to try and track his scent.

Sydney seemed rather confident in her abilities but it wasn't like Charlie had had a lot of experience with this particular werewolf trick. Plus wasn't Scott the true alpha, shouldn't he have been able to help them out too?

Stiles moved forward and stepped out of the bedroom, leaving Scott and Charlie standing side by side. She looked sideways at Scott, who looked right back at her and forced a smile onto his face.

"You run ahead with Stiles, I have a few phone calls to make." Scott said and waved his hand out in front of him, motioning for Charlie to take off.

"Like who?"

"Malia for starters." Scott chuckled. "Two noses are better than one."

Charlie's lips curved upwards into a grin, "thank you. While Syd seems to have every ounce of confidence in my scent tracking abilities, there's a lot riding on this. We can't screw this up, not now, not when we're so close."

"No matter who's pack you're a part of, I've got your back."

Charlie nodded her appreciation and quickly made her way out of the bedroom. She didn't pause, she didn't hesitate, she merely continued on with the hopes that Stiles hadn't left without them already.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Thank you to everyone who is continuing to read this!_** **_I cannot even express in words how much I appreciate each and every one of you!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Stiles and Sydney are one of my favourite duos to write!_**

 ** _Bleeding Blue Kunoichi: Were-sheriff would be pretty cool, if it was a worst case scenario lol. Syd's missing Bruin a lot but she knows too that there's bigger threats to worry about and yes, you're absolutely right, she has a pack she can trust to look after her little girl! Thanks so much for the review!_**


	40. Chapter 40

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 40** **:**_

Sydney wasn't sure how she felt when she stepped up onto the front porch of her house. On one hand, she was glad that she hadn't been dragged along with Stiles and the gang, if only so that she could catch her breath. On the other hand, she knew that she had left Charlie to handle things without her and while Charlie was perfectly capable of protecting herself and others, Sydney knew how completely dangerous the entire situation was.

Her beta was scared of the Dread Doctors, rightfully so, and the idea of them laying their grubby metal hands on Charlie terrified Sydney to no end. She didn't want anything to happen to Charlie, which is why she was already regretting sending her beta into the middle of the storm.

Walking through the front door, Sydney was immediately met by Aidan, who had Bruin grasped firmly in his arms. She took the baby without a second thought and hugged her tight, feeling herself calming down at the mere sight of her little girl. Bruin let out a coo and Sydney couldn't help but smile at the noises that she made. Oh yes, Bruin was perfect and she wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

"How are you holding up?" Aidan questioned and turned his back to Sydney, leading her further into the house. She paused but only to make sure the door was shut tight and locked.

"Fine, I guess. I'm pretty tired but I'll sleep when everything's calmed down." Sydney answered and let Aidan lead her into the living room where Steve and Ethan were seated on the couch conversing together. Sydney glanced at all three men before lowering herself down onto the vacant couch cushion next to Ethan. His arm came around her waist and she let out a sigh as she got comfortable leaning against him.

"Charlie okay?" Steve piped up and Sydney winced at his words. She'd like to think that Charlie was okay but the more she thought about it, the more she didn't like the idea of sending her off to help Scott and Stiles. Sure it seemed like a simple mission but Sydney knew better than a lot of people how easily a simple mission could turn into catastrophe.

"She was when I left her." Sydney answered vaguely. "I'm going to assume that all is well unless I hear otherwise."

"Right." Steve nodded his head. "Sorry if I worry, she's my daughter and she's all I have left."

Sydney gave him a nod in response and readjusted Bruin in her hold. The baby looked up at Sydney with wide, wondrous eyes, and Sydney couldn't help but smile while at the same time tears welled up in her own eyes.

"I know." Sydney whispered. "I'm sorry that I just sent her off without me there to keep an eye on her."

Steve lifted a hand up, stretched his arm over Ethan and gave Sydney a gentle pat on the thigh. Sydney reluctantly looked in his direction and tried to fight off the urge to start crying right then and there. Everything had gotten so messy, it had gotten way out of hand: the sheriff was currently laying in a hospital bed slowly dying while Charlie was off on an adventure that Sydney had no idea where it would lead her.

Scott and Stiles were in the midst of a fight and all the while Scott continued to try and help Stiles, Stiles merely tried to get rid of him. This wasn't what was supposed to happen, no, Scott and Stiles were supposed to be the best of friends and Sydney was merely supposed to be Stiles' outside support when Scott got overwhelmed. Add in the fact that Charlie and her had spent most of the night before tracking down Theo and the sheriff before Charlie was involved in a fight to the death at the library- it was all just too much for the tired female alpha.

"Hey, don't cry." Steve murmured and Sydney shied away from his gaze, looking down at Bruin instead, who seemed content to be in her mother's arms. "You're doing a good job at being an alpha, you have to know that I have faith in you, I trust you Syd."

"So do we." Ethan spoke and used his finger to point between himself and his brother. "We trust you with our lives."

"That's what makes everything so much worse." Sydney choked back a sob. She hated the idea that there were people willing to die for her and whether or not she wanted to believe it, she knew that Aidan and Ethan were with her until the bitter end. Charlie was hers to protect though and even if the younger girl wanted to try and sacrifice herself, Sydney wouldn't let that happen.

Charlie wasn't just anyone that she was willing to let do that for her, or Bruin. Charlie was Steve's daughter, she still had family and Sydney wasn't going to let her, or her father, live the rest of their lives without the other still around.

"We knew what we were getting into when we joined your pack." Aidan remarked. "You saved my life once before, I owed you for that."

"I just did what I had to do." Sydney shrugged awkwardly and lifted her head upwards, meeting Aidan's piercing gaze. His blue eyes glowed at her and when he lowered himself down to sit on the edge of the coffee table in front of her, she let out a sigh and matched his werewolf eyes with her own. "I just want everyone to be okay."

"So do we." Ethan smiled and gave her waist a gentle squeeze with his arm. "You're not in this alone. If you want me to track Charlie down and make sure she's safe, then that's what I'll do."

"No, no, I think I want you to be somewhere else." Sydney stated and blinked her eyes a few times in an attempt to push the tears away. "If it's okay with you guy, I want to head back to the hospital and I want Ethan to come with me."

"I can look after Bruin-"

"She's going to come with me." Sydney bowed her head. "She's my baby, I can handle her, plus _when_ the sheriff wakes up, I think it'd be nice for him to see her too."

"Right." Steve agreed quickly. "Can I ask you for a favour?"

"Of course." Sydney met his eyes and forced her alpha red irises away for the time being. "Anything."

"When you see Charlie, can you send her home?" Steve requested.

"Yes." Sydney's lips turned upwards into the tiniest hint of a smile. "I'll tell her you're waiting for her."

Steve gave her thigh another gentle pat before he hoisted himself to his feet. He flashed the pack a quick smile and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Sydney alone with Bruin and her two betas. Aidan leaned forward but remained silent, waiting for someone else to speak. He expected it to be Sydney so when his brother opened his mouth first, he snapped his attention to his twin.

"How is the sheriff? Honestly?" Ethan's voice was low and Aidan assumed it was so that Steve didn't overhear.

"Right now…" Sydney paused and shifted her hold on Bruin, "he's dying and no one knows what's wrong."

"That's where Charlie is then? She's trying to figure out how to help him?" Aidan threw in.

"Yeah, she's with Scott and Stiles." Sydney nodded her head. "Aidan, you stay here and watch out for Steve, and Charlie when she gets back. Ethan, I want you to be as inconspicuous as possible and when we get to the hospital, I want you to sneak into the sheriff's room and draw out as much of his pain as you think you can handle. No one is dying today, not if I have anything to say about it. Sound good?"

"Sounds great." Ethan beamed at her while Aidan bowed his head in understanding. "I'll do everything I can to help that man."

"Good." Sydney said and for the first time since she had spotted the sheriff's limp body in the treatment plant, she felt like maybe there was hope for him after all.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Their stop at the school had been quick.

Get in, get to Noah's locker, break it open, get his shirt and get out. It was at the school that they had met up with Malia, who was going to be acting as nose number one while Charlie backed her up being nose number two.

When they had pulled into the empty lot next to what looked like an abandoned building or tunnel of some sort, Charlie had been the last one to get out of the car. She didn't like the eerie feeling that surrounded her, not one bit. It was almost like a feeling of impending doom and that was never, ever good, not in her books anyways.

"You really know what this kid looks like?" Charlie asked as she came up to stand beside Malia.

"I do." She nodded her response and surged on ahead, wandering into the eerie, abandoned structure. Scott took off after her and fell in next to her leaving Stiles hanging back with Charlie. He met her eyes and offered her up a shrug before taking off after the others.

Charlie sucked in a breath, said a silent prayer in her head and followed their lead, not wanting to be left all alone. She easily caught up with Stiles but didn't dare say a word, instead, she focused on Noah's scent, hoping that they could locate this missing kid sooner rather than later.

The four of them dropped down off the concrete and stood on a set of some sort of tracks. Stiles stepped off to the side and hung back, Charlie remaining right by his side, but her ears were perked, listening in on Scott and Malia's conversation.

"He didn't want you to call me, did he?" Malia questioned and slowed her pace down as well.

"No. Is it that bad?" Scott countered.

Charlie took a step closer to them but didn't dare leave Stiles too far behind her.

"We kind of broke up, I guess." Malia stated and Charlie found herself wondering how Stiles was holding up. It didn't really matter at that point though, she figured that he'd be much more concerned with his failing father but, making a mental note to herself, she vowed to talk to him about it later.

"Yeah, we kind of broke up, too." Scott added, him and Malia picking the pace back up as they took quick steps forward.

She closed in on them and fell in stride right behind them, "you should never break up with Stiles."

Scott glanced back at her, shooting her a sympathetic look, "I know."

"Syd has faith in him, she's _always_ had faith in him." Charlie murmured and fell back, not wanting Stiles to stray too far away from them. He was perfectly capable of handling himself, sure, but she also knew that if Sydney ever found out that she left him alone, then she'd be in trouble.

"Hey, you can tell me what's going on with you. I mean besides Stiles. You can talk to me." Scott carried on speaking to Malia and Charlie moved back towards Stiles, waiting for him to finish looking around for clues as to where they would maybe find Noah Patrick.

"Come on." Charlie waved him forward. "I'm not the best at this scent tracking thing but I can tell you one thing for sure, he's not out here."

Stiles nodded his understanding and surged ahead, not bothering to even try to catch up with Scott and Malia. He didn't need them, not really, not when he had Charlie.

She watched carefully as Malia ducked down and disappeared into a dark opening along the side of the concrete platform floor next to them. Scott hesitated for all of two seconds before following the werecoyote into the darkened tunnel and Charlie reached her hand out, slipping it into Stiles' and drawing him forward.

She ushered Stiles in first so that she could come up the rear, keeping any threats from harming Stiles from behind them. She wanted to make sure he was protected from all angles, it would be something that Sydney would've appreciated.

Once they were all inside the opening, Charlie took a look around but then immediately shut her eyes, focusing all of her energy on locating Noah Patrick's scent. She could just barely make it out and before she had a chance to stake her claim on the kid's scent, Malia beat her to it.

"I got it, I got his scent."

"Me too." Charlie added quickly, not wanting to be left out.

The two girls surged on ahead, leaving the boys in their wake. Charlie let Malia take the lead and fell in behind her, following her own nose while also following the werecoyote in front of her. They rounded a corner and headed further and further into the dark tunnels, each and every step sending a shiver down Charlie's spine.

This place was eerie, creepy too and she didn't like the idea of leading Stiles into a dangerous situation. He was only human after all, but at the same time, there were three supernatural creatures with him to make sure that he wasn't harmed. Malia peeled away from Charlie and moseyed over to the side wall of the tunnel. Charlie hung back but scrunched her nose up at the smell of blood.

"This is Noah's, he was here. I think he's close." Malia stated and bent down, poking her finger against a piece of concrete. Charlie didn't need to see it to know that Malia had tracked some of Noah's blood to the hard surface.

Scott took a few steps forward and away from them, wandering into yet another dark tunnel. Charlie moved swiftly and came up behind him but she hung back, tucking her body behind the corner of the concrete wall while Malia and Stiles stayed in the previous tunnel all together.

"Guys I think we've been down tunnels like this before like when we were trying to find Liam and Hayden." Scott remarked, an uneasy tone to his voice. Charlie cocked her head to the side and wondered what had been so bad about the last time Scott had been in the tunnels but she didn't want to actually voice her concerns, it wasn't hard to realize that whatever was tugging at Scott's memories had something to do with Theo or the Dread Doctors.

"Okay, so what?" Stiles shot back, wandering closer to Scott.

"Maybe it means we're closer than we think, maybe there's something else down here, something that we haven't found yet." Scott replied.

"Yeah, nothing that helps my dad." Stiles pointed out. "Look, we can't just be standing around here waiting for something to-"

Charlie let out a feral growl and lowered her body towards the ground but the threat wasn't after her, no it had bypassed her completely. When the mysterious figure tackled Stiles, sending him flying towards the hard, cold, concrete floor, she felt her eyes turn yellow, watching as Stiles' head lulled from side to side, his eyes falling shut. His hand reached upwards and Scott grabbed hold of it, calling out to him.

"Stiles." Scott pleaded with his friend, hoping that Stiles wasn't hurt too badly.

"Come on Stiles." Charlie begged along with him, praying that they weren't going to all wind up dead in the tunnels.

"Stiles." Scott called out yet again and Stiles' eyes opened slightly, Scott helping him to his feet. Charlie moved towards Stiles and brushed any signs of dirt off his clothes, Stiles glancing at her and giving her a slight nod of appreciation. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Stiles said calmly.

Charlie gripped his hand and tried to draw out as much of his pain as she could while Malia wrestled with the thing that had attacked Stiles to start with. She had managed to get him down to the ground, his back against the floor, and she was currently straddling him, her hands going for the figure's neck.

"Is that who we're looking for?" Charlie spoke up and released her hold on Stiles' hand. "Is that Noah?"

"I think so." Stiles murmured in response.

"Let me go, please, please." The figure sounded terrified but Malia didn't let up, she just made another move to go for his neck. "They're coming."

As soon as the kid had gotten his words out, Charlie's body froze at the clicking, mechanical sounding noises echoing from down further in the tunnel. She knew what those sounds were, she was all too familiar with them and at the thought of crossing paths with the very Dread Doctors she was trying to avoid, she shuddered.

This wasn't the place for a fight, she didn't want to be stuck in an unfamiliar structure with three super creepy Dread Doctors, no, if it was up to her, they would've already been running for the exit.

But it wasn't up to her and no one made any move to leave. She remained next to Stiles but kept her eyes locked on the kid writhing under Malia's bodyweight.

Loud commanding footfalls echoed in the eerie tunnels and still no one dared to move. Were they looking for a confrontation? Did they actually think that they could take on the Dread Doctors and make it out in one piece?

"Guys." Charlie hissed at them and took one step backwards, hinting to the rest of them that they should retreat, yet still no one moved. "Seriously?"

Malia jumped to her feet, releasing her hold on Noah. As soon as he was free, he too surged to his feet but made a move to run the way they had all just come from. Before he could get away though, Stiles took off after him and collided with his body, driving it into the wall and fisting the collar of the kid's shirt in his hands.

"Jesus." Charlie snapped. "He's got the right idea."

"You're not going anywhere." Stiles threatened Noah, ignoring Charlie all together.

"Guys, we need to go." Charlie pleaded but all eyes were on Stiles and Noah.

"I said I don't remember." Noah confessed.

"You don't remember anything?" Stiles asked, an intense glare on his face directed right at Noah.

"No. Not when it happens. Not when I change." Noah admitted.

"You clawed my dad half to death, okay, and now it's poisoning him. You're going to start remembering every detail right now." Stiles pressed and Charlie debated her next move in her head.

Without considering the consequences, she dove forward and gently pushed Stiles away from Noah, allowing the kid a chance to breathe as the mechanical clicking noises, as well as the loud, confident footsteps, grew louder and louder.

"Scott, I hear them." Malia piped up and Charlie could sense how utterly anxious she was. No one was really _looking_ for a fight but it was apparent that all three of them would do whatever was necessary in order to help Stiles.

"Yeah, I do, too." Scott replied and turned his attention over towards Stiles. "Hey, Stiles, get him out of here, go to the hospital, figure out a way to save your dad."

"You're going to fight them?" Charlie took a step towards Scott and lifted her hands up into the air in a questioning manner. "Is that really the plan?"

"We're not going to be able to stop them." Malia threw in, adding to Charlie's unease.

"Like at all." Charlie groaned.

"But we can slow them down." Scott pointed out matter-of-factly. "Stiles, go."

Stiles moved towards Noah once more and latched onto his arm, forcing him back down the tunnel from where they had just come from. Charlie sucked in a breath and when she could no longer see Stiles, she focused all of her attention on the tunnel in front of her. Malia and Scott seemed unfazed by the prospect of facing off against the Dread Doctors but Charlie knew better. They were terrified, and rightfully so.

The Dread Doctors were ruthless, they were evil and didn't even think twice about harming innocent human beings. If it were up to Charlie, she'd have ripped them all to pieces long ago, but they were stronger than her, and they outnumbered her. All she could do at this point was team up with Scott and Malia and hope for the best.

"We're going to be okay." Scott stated and the Dread Doctors came into view at the opposite end of the tunnel. They didn't pick up their pace, they merely continued to walk towards them, confidence in every stride.

"I hope you're right." Charlie mumbled and forced her claws out. She felt her canines sharpening in her mouth and she didn't need a mirror to know that her eyes were glowing the familiar golden colour. "Syd will kill you if I don't make it out of here."

"Scott, we're going to die down here." Malia voiced.

"No, we're not." Scott argued calmly. There was something in his voice, a slight bit of confidence there, that had Charlie feeling a tiny bit better about their chances.

"How can you be so sure?" Malia shot back, stealing a sideways glance at the true alpha.

"Because you're not the only one that I called." Scott's voice was still calm and as soon as his words were past his lips, Charlie felt another presence behind them, _two_ more presences behind them.

"Charlie!" Was that…was that Isaac? What the hell, no, he was supposed to be in France, far, far away from Beacon Hills. She didn't dare turn around though, not when the Dread Doctors were getting closer and closer.

"Get down!" Another voice commanded and Charlie wasn't about to argue. She ducked out of the way and backed up as best as she could in her current crouching position.

She heard a gun cocking, she jumped as the shot rang out and she cowered backwards as the Dread Doctors easily deflected the bullet that had been aimed right at them. She widened her eyes in sheer terror at their abilities and backed away from them, moving past the man with the gun and running right into Isaac.

"Charlie." Isaac hissed at her and she lifted her hands up, cautiously rising up to her full height in fear that she might accidentally get caught by a stray bullet. "Come on."

Without questioning why he was here or what the hell he was doing in the tunnels, she latched her hand onto his and took off after him as the same voice that had commanded them to get down also called out for them to 'run'.

Isaac led her back through the twists and turns of the tunnel, all the while she listened to the retreating footsteps following their lead. The light filtered in the closer they got to the outside and as soon as they stepped back out onto the tracks, Charlie let out a whimper and gave a tug on Isaac's hand.

"What?" He stopped along with her and studied her face. Charlie had her eyes locked on the opening to the tunnel, waiting expectantly for Scott and Malia to come out from where they had all just been. "Charlie?"

"Where's Scott?" She questioned and took a couple of steps towards the opening, trying to build up enough courage to poke her head inside.

She didn't get a chance to look back because Malia appeared in her line of sight, erupting from the opening and nearly collapsing to the tracks. Scott quickly followed and lastly the man wielding the gun stepped out and immediately marched forward, putting more and more space between himself and the darkened caverns.

"Isaac." Scott said his name calmly but waved him forward. Isaac pulled on Charlie's hand and she moved along with him as they all fell in step behind the older man with the gun. She looked from Scott to Isaac and then to the man leading them, thoroughly confused as to who this man was and why he had shown up when he did. "Good to see you."

Isaac moved ahead a little bit to catch up with Scott, his hand falling away from Charlie for the time being. The two male werewolves quickly embraced while Charlie, and Malia, looked on in confusion.

"You know who this is?" Malia called over to Charlie who offered up a shrug in response.

"Sort of." She said softly and when Isaac peeled himself away from Scott, he moved right back over towards her and stood in front of her. "We met online."

"And you're so much prettier in person." Isaac smiled.

"We have to go!" The older man hollered at them and Charlie wasn't about to argue, she knew what awaited them inside the tunnels but she didn't know how quickly the Dread Doctors would catch up, if they managed to catch up at all.

"Who's he?" Charlie asked in a low tone and Isaac walked along beside her, glancing in her direction while also following the man's path.

"Chris, Chris Argent." Isaac answered.

"Oh." Charlie tipped her head to the side in confusion and let out a frustrated huff. "What are you two doing here?"

"I called Argent." Scott answered from just in front of her.

"And I came along with him." Isaac added.

"And you didn't think to tell me you were planning on coming to Beacon Hills?" Charlie narrowed her eyes in on Isaac, all the while walking along beside him as she put more and more distance between herself and the tunnels. "Never mind, we can talk about that later, where's Stiles?"

Scott freed his phone from his pocket and the group of them walked up onto the concrete platform that would lead them to where the car had been parked. Charlie followed along right behind Isaac and once they were approaching a large, black SUV, she slowed down, hesitating at the sight.

"Stiles is on his way to the hospital." Scott supplied and rushed forward, taking up a stance next to the passenger side of the SUV. "Come on, let's go."

"You want me to get into the car of a complete stranger?" Charlie hissed but when Isaac set his hand on her shoulder, she let out a snort and rolled her eyes. "Fine, okay, I'm getting in."

As soon as Scott pulled the door open, Charlie moseyed on around to the back and waited as Isaac did the same for her. He motioned her forward and she climbed up into the vehicle, situating herself in the middle of the seat while Malia made herself comfortable on one side, Isaac on the other. As soon as the doors were all shut and everyone was buckled in, Charlie let out a breath, feeling herself relaxing the slightest little bit.

Whatever had happened down in the tunnels was over, they had made it out alive and all she could do now was hope that they had a few minutes to themselves before chaos struck once again.

After all, Isaac Lahey was here with her in Beacon Hills and she had lots and lots of questions for him.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 _ **So Charlie and Isaac finally meet in person! How do you think that's going to work out?**_


	41. Chapter 41

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 41** **:**_

"Syd!"

Oh boy, was Charlie a sight for sore eyes.

Sydney couldn't believe what she was seeing the second she walked into the hospital. Her intention had been to check up on the sheriff, sneak Ethan into the room so that he could focus on drawing out the man's pain, and then settle in to one of the chairs either in the sheriff's room too or out in the lobby so that she could sit with Bruin and wait.

Having Charlie already sitting in the waiting room was just icing on the cake and since the sheriff had already been awake when she walked in, she had sent Ethan to check out the hospital and make sure everything was kosher.

"Charlie." Sydney smiled at her beta and closed in on her, her eyes slowly scanning the rest of the people waiting along with her. She took in the sight of Scott tucked away in the corner with Malia hanging around nearby, she even smiled at Chris Argent-

Wait, Chris Argent?

What the hell was he doing back in Beacon Hills? The last time she had seen him was when she had been in Mexico and even then she had been surprised to see him upright. Peter had impaled the man on a piece of rebar and left him in the sewers to die, but he had managed to follow them to Mexico and now he was here, in Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital looking right back at her.

"Look." Charlie spoke up, pulling Sydney's eyes away from Chris Argent, who was, by this time, staring right back at Sydney. "It's Isaac."

"What?" Sydney's eyes widened in shock but when she looked at the person inhabiting the chair beside Charlie, she knew that her beta wasn't crazy. Isaac Lahey was right in front of her, smiling back at her as he leaned forward, making a move to get up. "The hell is going on here."

"Scott called some people." Charlie answered with a nonchalant shrug. "Then said people showed up to help."

Bruin, thank the heavens, took this particular lull in conversation to let out a gurgled whine. Sydney's eyes immediately moved down to the baby in her arms and she shook her head, trying to figure out what was happening and why there were people looking at her that she hadn't been expecting to see, like _ever_ again.

"I'm just going to sit over there." Sydney muttered and headed in the direction of where Scott was sitting. He straightened up as she approached and looked at the bundled up baby in her arms. Sydney lowered herself down into the empty chair next to him and turned to face him, but Scott was too busy studying Bruin, who had her one hand free from the blankets and was reaching out for Scott.

He gently offered her his finger and Bruin latched onto it, squeezing it with everything she had. Scott's face lit up and Sydney let out a soft sigh, hoping that this conversation would go a lot smoother than she was anticipating. She knew that he didn't owe her anything and he had the right to ask almost anything he wanted regarding the baby girl, but more than anything, she was hoping that he wouldn't judge her.

She knew how crazy it sounded that she had a kid who was fathered by the one and only Peter Hale. It wasn't like she planned Bruin, the girl had been a surprise and most of all to Sydney. She just didn't want Scott to jump to conclusions without knowing the whole story.

"Is she a werewolf?" Scott quipped in a low tone but it wouldn't have mattered. There were enough people in the room with supernatural hearing to eavesdrop without even having to try.

Sydney sucked in a breath and lifted her eyes up just in time to meet Chris Argent's gaze as he stood up from where he was sitting. She watched him carefully and when he approached her and Scott, she blew the breath out, hoping that he wasn't going to threaten her or Bruin. When he simply sat down on Sydney's other side and peered down at the little girl in her arms, Sydney felt herself relaxing the tiniest little bit.

"She is, as far as I know." Sydney answered softly. "Sometimes I can get her eyes to flash but I think she's way too distracted by all the people to do it now."

Scott tipped his head to the side and flashed his own red alpha eyes at Bruin, who let out a squeal in response. Sydney watched carefully but her little girl didn't even make a move to try and match her eyes with Scott's.

"Did you have her here?" Chris spoke up and shifted on the seat to get closer to Sydney. Sydney lifted Bruin up the tiniest little bit and debated whether or not she wanted to offer for Chris to hold her. "In Beacon Hills?"

"No, in Colorado." Sydney twisted her body to face Chris and moved Bruin towards him. "You want to hold her?"

"Sure." Chris murmured and when Sydney passed her over, Chris did his best to support her the way that he knew how having been a father once before. Bruin seemed to settle into his grasp without any trouble and once she was comfortable in his hold, she beamed up at him and reached her hand back out for Scott's finger, which she had lost in the hand off. "What's her name?"

"Bruin Lee Hale." Sydney stated proudly and winced at the snort that had erupted from across the room. It didn't take long for her to find the source and when she locked her eyes on an amused Charlie, Sydney stuck her tongue out at her.

"Hale." Chris echoed the girl's last name and stared at Sydney. "She's a Hale?"

"Yes." Sydney nodded her head. "Peter's kid."

"Peter Hale's kid." Chris' tone was laced with incredulousness and even Sydney had to admit that the idea of Peter Hale fathering yet another kid was sort of amusing. He was so much older than her, his first child was already a teenager, the man certainly didn't seem like the type to do well with a newborn. "Does he know about her?"

She assumed that Chris had asked more because Peter hadn't been aware of his first child but either way, the fact of the matter was, the question was funny. The answer though, well Sydney found the answer to that question to be just plain sad.

"No." She shook her head with a chuckle. "He has no idea. I didn't find out about her until after I left Beacon Hills, and he was locked away in Eichen House at that point."

Chris just dropped his gaze down to the baby in his arms while Sydney also looked at Bruin. Scott's finger was still in her grasp and when Bruin moved it towards her mouth, Scott simply let her, not even bothered by the fact that she was sucking on it, effectively covering it in drool.

"She's beautiful." Chris complimented. "Really."

"She's got good genes on her mother's side." Sydney joked and even Chris let out a little chuckle. "She's a good baby."

"How come Stiles knew about her?" Scott questioned.

Sydney turned her attention to the young male alpha next to her, "I came back to visit soon after I found out I was pregnant. It slipped out back then."

"So you didn't want people to know about her then?"

"I don't know, I guess not. If people don't know about her then it makes it so much easier to protect her and keep her safe." Sydney explained. "She's my responsibility, I don't need the knowledge of her existence getting into the wrong hands."

"Your secret's safe with me." Chris countered without even thinking. "That is, so long as she grows up right."

"She will." Sydney vowed and her mind drifted back to her own upbringing. She was going to do the best for Bruin that she could, her little girl would grow up to be a wonderful woman; strong, powerful, intelligent, she'd have it all. She'd be just like Sydney and not so much like Peter. "I'll make sure of it."

"She'll be great." Scott whispered.

"Speaking of growing up right," Sydney paused and set her sights on Isaac, who was still sitting next to Charlie across the way, "did you bring him back here?"

"I did." Chris stated calmly as he looked between mother and child, trying to hold both of their attention. "We're going to need all the help we can get."

"You think so?" Sydney pressed. "Because of Theo or…?"

"Because of everything." Scott cut in.

"Right." Sydney kept her eyes trained on Bruin, waiting for the tiny little girl to get fussy, but she seemed quite fine in Chris' grasp. "Where's Isaac staying then?"

Chris let out a hum, "with me, for now."

"And do you have any plans for a pack for him or were you just going to let him try to survive as an omega?"

"He's got me, he's not _really_ an omega." Chris pointed out and Sydney nodded along in agreement. "I'm a hunter, I'm not hunting him, who else would he _really_ have to look out for?"

"Your family." Sydney shot back but when he looked at her, Sydney let out a sigh. "Any luck finding Kate?"

"No." Chris shook his head. "We have bigger things to worry about now though."

"You're not wrong."

Sydney shook her head too and carefully made her way to her feet. She bent down and motioned for Chris to hand Bruin back over and he did so reluctantly. His eyes trailed upwards and he met Sydney's gaze while Scott pulled his finger free from Bruin's grasp and wiped it on his pants.

"We should call a truce," Chris suggested, "you and me, we have no beef, let's keep it that way."

"If you want to know who I'm after, it's definitely not you. You're not going to hunt me for going after Theo, are you?" Sydney inquired. "Or Kate if she ever shows her face here again?"

"My code is different now." Chris said. "We protect those who cannot protect themselves."

"Sounds good." Sydney gave him a nod. "If that changes though, I'd love a chance to discuss it with you."

Chris tipped his head to the side and also stood up, extending his hand out to her and letting it hang between them. Sydney shifted Bruin in her hold and took his hand in hers, giving it one firm shake and tossing a smile onto her face. When she pulled her hand free, she turned towards the opposite side of the room and headed for Charlie.

Charlie looked up at her as she came to a stop in front of the two young werewolves, Sydney's eyes flickering red for Isaac to see.

"Chill Syd." Charlie chuckled and Sydney's eyes returned to their normal colour. "We're just talking."

"Hands to yourself Lahey." Sydney grumbled. "And it's good to see your face again."

"Same to you." Isaac countered with a smile. "I'll be on my best behaviour."

"Good. I'm not done talking to you but I'm going to go check on the sheriff for a little bit, you two don't leave this room until I get back, got it?"

Charlie nodded her head in understanding and Isaac did the same. Sydney let out a low growl in Isaac's direction but before he could say anything in response, she walked away from them, heading into the hallway before disappearing into the sheriff's hospital room. As soon as Sydney was out of sight, Charlie leaned against the armrest between her and Isaac and let out a soft sigh of relief.

"I'm glad I got to finally meet you in person." Charlie said in a soft tone.

"Me too."

"We should definitely make plans to hang out." Charlie suggested.

"I agree, maybe Syd will let me train with you and your pack even?"

"Maybe, but we should probably wait for my dad to go back to Colorado before we even think of bringing that up." Charlie giggled and relaxed into the back of her chair. She reached over and set her palm on Isaac's arm, gently grasping onto him. He moved his eyes to meet hers and smiled wide.

"Should I be more afraid of your dad or your alpha?" Isaac joked and Charlie let out an amused scoff.

"Probably my dad." Charlie laughed and felt herself loosening up.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"But you'll definitely have to come over for dinner some time, Syd's an amazing cook."

All Isaac could do in response was grin.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney hadn't known what she was expecting when she stepped into the sheriff's hospital room but to see Stiles kneeling on the floor next to the side of the bed, gripping his father's hand, well that had certainly gotten to her. Stiles wasn't letting the man out of his sight and Sydney couldn't blame him at all for that.

Looking down at the teenager on the floor, she sucked in a breath and suddenly she felt everything hit her at once like a punch to the gut. Her heart hammered in her chest, her breath caught in her throat and she had to squeeze her eyes shut tight in order to keep herself from crying.

They could've lost the sheriff, _Stiles_ could've lost his father and for what? Because Theo hadn't thought his evil plan through and let someone else take over the attack? Or because the Dread Doctors were running around in Beacon Hills causing havoc? Or maybe it was because Scott hadn't just submitted to death like Theo had planned on? In the long run, it didn't matter to her, he had been too close to death for her liking and she made a silent vow that she was going to do whatever she could to make sure she never had to see the sheriff in such a dire state _ever_ again.

With a glance down at Bruin, who was wrapped up tightly in the blanket in her arms, Sydney let out an anxious breath and stepped into the room further, crossing the floor and lowering herself down into the vacant chair on the other side of the sheriff's bed. She relaxed against it and settled her baby girl against her chest, hugging her tight and protecting her from all the bad in the world. Stiles lifted his head up and stole a peek at Sydney, flashing her a sad smile in the process.

"He's going to be okay, right?" She asked in a soft voice, Stiles looked away from her for a split second before nodding slightly in response. "You must've been so scared."

"Yeah." Stiles' voice was hoarse and Sydney didn't even want to begin to imagine the type of pain that he felt. She had lost her own father when she was younger and it still pained her, though not as much as it once had. "I can't lose him too Syd."

"I know." Sydney bowed her head and broke eye contact with him, instead, she caught Bruin's wide-eyed gaze and forced a smile onto her lips, directing it at her baby. "I'm sorry I couldn't have done more."

"It's not your fault." Stiles sighed and settled his head back down onto the edge of the bed. Sydney let a blanket of silence fall over them and simply watched the two Stilinski men clinging to each other.

She felt the weight of her daughter in her arms and the exhaustion from the day's events was kicking in. She needed to get everyone that she could home, she needed to get Charlie and Ethan, and especially Bruin, back to the house where they could all climb into bed and sleep away the stress from the entire situation. Things wouldn't look as dire in the morning, at least that's what Sydney was hoping for.

Theo was still out there, he was still in control and that thought alone caused a shiver to run down Sydney's spine. She knew that she should've inflicted more damage when she had the chance but he had gotten the upper hand, he had an advantage. She hated the fact that he wasn't affected by mountain ash because all that had stood between her and getting her claws into Theo Raeken was a line of stupid black powder along the threshold. Theo should've considered himself lucky that it had been there to stop her because she wasn't completely sure what she would've done to him if she hadn't been forced back.

"Syd?" Stiles piped up although his voice was still low, nearly a whisper. She straightened up in the chair and met his eyes. "Thanks."

Forcing the lump that was forming in her throat back down, she smiled at him and then rose up to her full height, carefully moving Bruin with her. She pressed a kiss against the top of Bruin's head and took a few steps closer to the bed, looking down at the sheriff and sucking in a breath.

"You know he's the closest thing to a father that I have, right?" Sydney murmured and reached one hand out, setting it on the man's wrist before drawing out any pain that she could manage. Stiles tipped his head sideways and gave her a nod of understanding. It wasn't hard to see that him and his father meant the world to her and even their friendship had started out because Peter wanted her to watch Stiles, it didn't matter. They were family, they'd always _be_ family.

"You should go home and get some rest." Stiles suggested but the man lying in the bed moved. It was barely noticeable but it was there, his hand tightened on Stiles' fingers and his head lulled slightly to the side.

She held her breath, as did Stiles, and the two of them waited patiently for him to open his eyes, for him to speak and tell them that he was okay, that he wasn't going anywhere. He had to know how much Stiles needed him, he had to be aware of how much Sydney respected him, he couldn't just up and die on them, not without putting up one hell of a fight.

The sheriff's arm came up and his palm rested on his son's shoulder, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Sydney couldn't help but smile as his eyes opened up slowly, cautiously, and when the man's head shifted forward to look down at Stiles, she knew that it was her time to leave. It felt right going home now that she knew he was going to be okay.

"It's okay Stiles, you still got me."

Sydney shook her head and blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. Bruin cooed in her arms and drew the sheriff's attention towards her and in response, she threw a grin on her face, hoping that he wouldn't see her in her state of weakness.

"I'll leave you two alone." Sydney said in a hushed tone and made a move to step around the end of the bed. Stiles reached his hand out to stop her and she paused in her movements, looking down at him but Stiles nodded in the direction of his father.

"Let me see her." The sheriff instructed, Sydney promptly sitting down on the edge of the bed. She leaned back slightly and held the baby out towards the sheriff, Bruin lifting a hand out from under the edge of the blanket and clenching her fist in the sheriff's direction.

Stiles' dad offered the baby his finger and when it was within her reach, Bruin latched her tiny little hand onto it and squeezed with all her might. Sydney seized her opportunity and gripped the sheriff's wrist in her hand, drawing out even more of his pain.

"I'm glad you're okay." Sydney whispered. "Really glad."

"Me too." The sheriff tossed her a small smile and reluctantly freed his finger from Bruin's grasp. He gave Sydney a nod of appreciation for all that she had done and without putting it off any longer, she stood up and walked out into the hallway.

Charlie was right there to meet her, slipping her arms around Sydney's middle, careful of Bruin, and hugging her tight. Sydney relaxed in her beta's grip and let out a soft sigh of relief. The sheriff was okay, he was alive and it was all because Stiles hadn't given up on him. He had fought for his father, he had stopped at nothing to help him and if it had been her in his position, she knew she would've done the same thing.

"I overheard Stiles telling you to go home." Charlie teased and Sydney let out a scoff. She peeled herself away from Charlie and took a step back, meeting her beta's gaze. "I don't know about you but I am _exhausted_."

"I feel like I could sleep for days." Sydney replied with a smile. "Let's go home."

"Okay. Did you want me to call Ethan?"

Sydney shook her head no in response and handed Bruin off to her beta. Digging her cell phone out of her pocket, she shot off a quick text to Ethan informing him that they were ready to head home. Then she shot another quick text message to Aidan letting him know that they were on their way. When her phone was securely back in her pocket, she took Bruin back from Charlie and looked into the waiting room just feet away.

Isaac, Chris, Scott and Malia were sitting amongst the chairs and when Sydney passed her gaze over Isaac, she couldn't help but shake her head in amusement. It hadn't been too long ago that he was in France, safe from the Dread Doctors with an ocean between him and danger, yet here he was, right in the thick of things. She couldn't fault him for that though, she also had the freedom to leave Beacon Hills whenever she wanted and head back to Colorado but she knew that she was needed here.

Stiles and his father would benefit from her protection, Scott had practically gained an ally upon her arrival and Theo would hopefully realize that she was a force to be reckoned with. There was no way she could leave the town at this point in time, there was far too much going on, plus it wasn't like she was all alone; she had her pack, she had the Stilinskis and now she was hoping she had Chris Argent on her side.

"Isaac have a decent place to stay?" Sydney asked in a low tone, hoping that none of the other werewolves were listening in.

"With Chris." Charlie answered.

"You two figured out when you'll have a chance to sit down and talk?" Sydney questioned. "Or at the very least a time when you can explain to him what the hell is going on here?"

"Some time tomorrow. I said I'd text him when I woke up." Charlie smiled up at her alpha. "Did you want to interrogate him personally or can we go home now?"

Sydney sucked in a breath, held it for a few seconds, and then blew it out, "we can go home. There'll be plenty of time for interrogations later, plus I'm sure your dad wouldn't mind a warning that the kid you have a crush on is here in Beacon Hills and not in France where he's _supposed_ to be."

Charlie rolled her eyes at her alpha but slipped an arm around her waist anyways. With one final look into the waiting room, a smile directed at Isaac from Charlie and a nod directed at Scott and Chris from Sydney, the two girls began their journey out of the hospital and towards home.

For the time being, Sydney was glad that she had a moment to breathe.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 ** _mercenary20: oh geez! thanks so much for this!_**

 ** _poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Peter and Derek definitely need to come back!_**


	42. Chapter 42

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 42** **:**_

Sleeping through the night had been easy for everyone in the house, including baby Bruin. The events that had happened prior to Sydney, Bruin, Charlie and Ethan reaching their home had wiped them all out completely. When the four of them finally set foot inside the house, even Steve and Aidan had managed to fall asleep while they tried to wait up for the rest of the pack to get back.

Charlie had woken up her father and curled up with him on the couch and that was where Sydney had left her before heading to bed herself. Ethan and Aidan had disappeared down to the basement and Bruin had been tucked up tight inside her crib. It was the first night that Sydney had slept the whole way through without dreaming at all, not even the nightmares were brave enough to take her on in her state of tiredness.

By the time the pack had gotten up the following morning, Steve was already working his way through making breakfast. Scrambled eggs were heaped in a bowl on the table, bacon was cooked up and residing on a plate near the eggs and Ethan was standing near the toaster making pieces made to order. Sydney waltzed over to the table and sat down on the chair, shifting Bruin in her hold and relaxing into the seat. She peered over towards Charlie and flashed her beta an appreciative smile, then she looked at Aidan sitting across from her and bowed her head.

"Long night last night?" He teased and Sydney shook her head in amusement.

"Longest night of my life." Charlie replied and reached a hand over, setting her palm on Sydney's shoulder. "On the bright side though, Isaac's in town."

"Isaac?" Steve froze in his position at the counter. He turned his head slowly to the side and set his sights on Charlie, who visibly flinched at the intensity of his expression. "The same Isaac that you've been pining over forever, the one that's _supposed_ to be over in France, with an ocean between you and him? That Isaac?"

"It might be _that_ Isaac." Charlie shied away from her father's piercing gaze. "It might not be too."

"It is." Sydney piped up and glanced between the father and daughter duo. "It's one in the same."

Steve blew out a frustrated sigh and pushed himself away from the counter. Without making a noise, he flitted across the room and came to a stand behind Charlie, who stiffened at his mere presence. Sydney looked down at her own daughter and couldn't help but envision the very image of Peter doing the same thing as soon as Bruin was old enough to be interested in boys.

But would he be around by that point in their daughter's life? Would he still be locked away in Eichen House? In fact, was that where he still was now? There were too many unknowns surrounding Peter Hale and Sydney wasn't sure of anything anymore.

She wanted Bruin to grow up with both of her parents, she wanted her little girl to have a wonderful childhood, something that she had lost the same second that she had lost her own parents, but with Peter nowhere in sight, Sydney wasn't sure how reasonable it was for her to think that Bruin would have a father in her life. Peter didn't even _know_ about her existence, he didn't know about her pack or where she was, he had no idea what he was missing out on and that just served to make Sydney sadder than she already was.

"Well this opens up a whole new can of worms." Steve remarked and set his palms on his daughter's shoulders, giving them a rough squeeze. "If you and this boy are going to be getting close-"

" _Dad_!" Charlie whined, cutting him off. "Stop talking right now."

"He has a point Charlie." Sydney pointed out. "I saw the way he was looking at you when we were at the hospital, and I saw the way you were looking at _him_ , I think we should hear out what your dad has to say."

"You can't be on his side." Charlie argued but there was absolutely no conviction in her tone. She looked at the twins for back up but Aidan raised his hands up in surrender and Ethan turned his back to the table, and ultimately to everyone sitting at it. She was alone in the matter, she was going to have to fight this battle on her own and with that in mind, she let out a growl. "I'm old enough to make my own decisions."

"I never said you weren't." Steve said calmly and lifted his one hand off of her shoulder. He ran his hand over her head and blew out an anxious breath of his own before looking to his daughter's alpha. "I might have to extend my visit here in order to keep an eye on you."

Charlie whipped around and looked up at her dad, her eyes flickering gold in frustration. Steve stared back at her and he tipped his head to the side, gauging his daughter and how truly upset she was at his proclamation.

"That's not necessary." Ethan spoke up from the kitchen and faced his pack. "We can keep an eye on her for you."

"So I really have _no one_ on my side?" Charlie's eyes widened in total disbelief and one by one, she scowled at the rest of her pack, the people that she had thought might've been supportive of her and her decision to see where things with Isaac would go. "Does this mean I'm going to have a permanent shadow in the form of one of you guys every time I leave the house in case I try to sneak off to see Isaac because need I remind you that we just met in person _last night_."

Sydney sucked in a breath and considered Charlie's words. While she still wasn't totally sold on the idea of Charlie spending too much time alone with Isaac, she knew that her beta had a point, they barely knew each other when it all came down to it. An online relationship was completely different than an in-person relationship and maybe Sydney could sort of sympathize with Charlie. It wasn't like she had done anything to cause her not to trust her and it wasn't like Charlie was irresponsible.

What _was_ the big deal? Isaac Lahey was a decently good kid, he had been part of Derek's pack once upon a time and Sydney had respected his choice to leave him, even if she didn't like it. In the many options that Charlie had to be in a relationship with, Isaac was definitely someone that Sydney approved of.

She could do way worse, that much was for sure, so would it really be so bad if Charlie and Isaac got to know one another? On a personal level?

"I think a shadow is still necessary but maybe we could consider using Isaac as a tail of his own. Technically you wouldn't be alone if you were with him and he's a relatively capable werewolf-"

"Are you suggesting we let my daughter go off gallivanting with a sex-crazed teenage boy?" Steve cut off the female alpha and Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth, trying to remain calm, cool and collected. She was an alpha, she was _Charlie's_ alpha, but this man in front of her was Charlie's father, which trumped alpha every single time. She was going to have to get him to see it from her perspective, plus the idea of threatening to hurt Isaac if he hurt Charlie in any way hadn't even been mentioned just yet.

Maybe that's all it would take, maybe they all just had to make sure that Isaac knew not to mess with Charlie, or the pack itself.

"We can talk to him, tell him what'll happen to him if he so much as looks at Charlie with puppy dog eyes." Sydney countered and waved a hand in the air dismissively. "I don't like the idea of her and him together in _that_ way anymore than you do but maybe we should give Charlie the benefit of the doubt. She's smarter than that, don't you think?"

"You raised me dad, you know what type of person I am." Charlie threw in and prayed that her father would let her at least be friends with Isaac and spend some time alone with him. She knew better than to put herself in situations that she wasn't ready for, and she knew that if she got herself into said situations that her pack would rip Isaac limb from limb. She just had to make sure that Isaac knew that and with the ravenous look in Sydney's eyes, she knew that she wouldn't have to do much to remind him that she had people looking out for her best interest. "I'm not some stupid teenager who would let a guy pressure her into having sex, nor would I be stupid enough to not use protection if it ever came down to it, come on dad, I just want to get to know him."

"I'll make sure he knows not to mess with her." Sydney supplied. "I'll lay it all out on the line, if her hurts Charlie or does something that we don't approve of, then he'll have to deal with me."

"And us." Ethan added in, pointing to himself and his twin.

Steve removed his hand from her other shoulder and let out a sigh before flopping down to sit in the chair next to Charlie. He watched her carefully as she turned to face him head on and when he caught a glimpse of her eyes, full of wonder and pleading, he knew that he wasn't going to turn her down, much to his own dismay. She would forever be his little girl but she was growing up, he should be so kind as to let her, right?

"Dad, I promise you, nothing bad is going to happen, I won't end up pregnant, I'm not that kind of girl." Charlie extended her hand over to her dad and let him take a hold of it. He squeezed her fingers and gave a slight nod of his head, silently giving her the permission she so desperately craved when it came to Isaac.

"I want to meet him." Steve stated firmly. "I want to talk to him before I let you go anywhere with him, does that sound fair?"

Charlie gulped loudly, "I guess, yeah that's fair."

"Good, so when _do_ I get to meet this kid?" Steve pressed and suddenly all eyes were on Charlie. If Bruin hadn't let out a slight squeal, Charlie would've felt almost scared, but at the sound of the tiny little girl in Sydney's arms crying out, she felt the slightest bit of relief flood through her veins. Everything would be okay, Isaac was a good kid and her alpha was almost completely on her side.

"He's coming over sometime this afternoon, with Chris." Charlie answered and caught the small smile on Sydney's lips. "I told him that I'd explain everything that was going on."

"Well you best be telling him that he's meeting me too, I want him to have the fear in him before he even gets here." Steve chided and Sydney let out a scoff from her spot at the table. His eyes locked on Sydney but the alpha didn't even flinch, instead, she stared right back at him, silently daring him to question her. Steve made no effort to do so and focused back on his daughter, hoping that she knew what she was doing.

Sure she was growing up, she deserved the chance to meet someone who could potentially make her happy, but that didn't mean he was ready to let go of his little girl. She was all he had and he was going to hold on to her for as long as he possibly could.

Losing her wasn't an option.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

"Did you bring your gun?" Sydney narrowed her eyes in on Chris Argent, who was standing on the front porch in the early afternoon sun. She hadn't even bothered to pay much attention to Isaac, who was standing behind him, nervously fidgeting with the cuffs of his shirt, she'd get to him, but she had to make sure her pack was protected from the hunter, that was her main priority. "Or any other weapons that you can use to harm me or my pack?"

Chris slowly moved his arms away from his body and grasped the bottom hem of his jacket, lifting it up enough so that Sydney could get a good look at him. He turned in a steady circle in front of her, letting her take in the sight of where he could have possibly hidden any sort of weapons but he knew that she wasn't going to find any. He was smart, too smart to bring weapons to a peacekeeping meeting.

"Happy?" Chris questioned and Sydney tipped her head from side to side, contemplating how much she trusted the man in front of her. He hadn't done anything to her in the past to warrant her being so hard on him, but she hadn't seen him in the last several months, who knew what he had been up to and Sydney didn't trust what she didn't know. "I'm not here to harm any one of your pack."

She took a step back and freed up the doorway, waving him inside. Chris lowered his hands and cautiously crossed over the threshold, leading Isaac into Sydney's humble abode. Sydney let the door fall shut behind them and she flipped the deadbolt across to keep out any unwanted visitors. She was going to be safe inside her own home, even if she was currently hosting a small get together with a well-known hunter and a werewolf that she didn't know all that much about.

"Straight ahead, into the living room." Sydney instructed and the two men did exactly what they were told. Once the rest of the pack came into view, she let out a sigh of relief and took up a seat on the couch next to Aidan, who had been watching over Bruin while Sydney made sure Chris hadn't planned anything behind their backs. Once Bruin was safely in Sydney's hold, she pointed to two armchairs across the way, one for each man, and one by one, they sat down.

Steve was standing at the end of the couch, his arms crossed over his chest and a glare locked on Isaac as he got somewhat comfortable in the chair. Charlie was sitting on the couch on the cushion nearest her dad, she was planning on being a barrier between him and Isaac if things happened to get out of hand. Ethan was sitting next to his brother, his eyes locked on Isaac as he studied the teenager in front of him, trying to get a feel for any tells that he might have.

"I'm here to keep the peace." Chris announced bluntly, well Sydney could respect a man who got straight to business. He didn't seem to be dancing around the point and for that, she was grateful. "I've done nothing to you, you've done nothing to me, I don't see why we can't be on the same side here."

"I agree." Sydney nodded and stole a quick glance down at the baby in her hold. "I have no reason to hurt you, I have no intention of being anything but civil to you and if you happen to break this truce we've put in place, then you know what I'm capable of."

"I do." Chris replied calmly. "Same goes to you."

"I'm aware of your skills." Sydney said. "But, like I said, I don't see why we can't be allies. I have information and skills that you might need and you have information and skills that _I_ might need, we can work together, out of mutual respect."

"We certainly can." Chris remarked. "You have a family, you have a decent pack, you'd be a good ally to have."

Charlie nudged Sydney with her hand and leaned against her, letting out a soft sigh at how well the meet and greet seemed to be going. She was happy that her alpha and the hunter were getting along so well but she knew that as soon as the attention shifted away from their alliance and over towards Isaac that the mood in the room would change drastically.

She knew that her dad was still desperate to get into Isaac's head and warn him of the harm that might befall him if anything happened to his daughter. She was aware that Sydney would threaten him too if he so much as looked at Charlie funny. At this point in time, she wasn't entirely sure who would be more intimidating to Isaac.

"I want to start off with asking you what your plans are for Isaac." Sydney let out a soft sigh and relaxed into the couch slightly. "You're an omega, right?"

"Yes ma'am." Isaac gave her a firm nod and Sydney snorted at his use of the word 'ma'am'.

"You can call me Syd." She shook her head in amusement. "What are your plans relating to joining a pack?"

Isaac's face fell at her question and Sydney's heart went out to him. She knew that it had to be hard for him, coming back to a place that held so many horrific memories pertaining to his life in Beacon Hills. He hadn't had the best of luck when it came to having a decent family, and he had even been screwed over when it came down to his first alpha. She knew how hard Derek had tried and she hadn't faulted him for giving it his all, but she also knew that he had failed miserably at being the alpha, he had let his pack down, he had let her down too.

Isaac deserved a chance, didn't he? He deserved an opportunity to be a part of a pack that wanted him, that could help him reach his full potential. If that happened to be her pack, then Sydney would do her best to help him. If he chose a different pack, well she wasn't going to fault him for that either.

He had the right to make the decision that was best for him and she couldn't imagine sharing an alpha with the twins, who had once upon a time been on the opposite side of Isaac, would come easily to him. Whatever he wanted, whatever he chose, she wouldn't be upset.

"I'm not too sure yet." Isaac answered. "I didn't get a chance to bring it up to Scott."

"What about Syd?" Charlie piped up, looking between Isaac and Sydney. Sydney's lips pressed tightly together forming a thin line and she hoped that she wasn't giving anything away.

She wouldn't mind having Isaac in her pack, not in the slightest, and if he was her beta then that meant she could keep a closer eye on the two of them together. That being said, she wasn't ready to move him into the house with the rest of her betas, she had to know what Isaac was made of before that even became a part of the equation.

"She'd be a good choice." Steve remarked, a challenging tone to his voice. Isaac reluctantly looked over to the man who had fathered the girl he was interested in and tried to keep his expression from showing how truly afraid of him he was. "You should at least consider it."

Isaac sucked in a breath and opened his mouth, preparing to say something in response but Chris beat him to the punch.

"Isaac would be lucky to have an alpha like the one in front of him, but we've talked about it and we think that it'd be best if he weighed all the options before making a decision." Chris had his eyes locked on Steve. "That sounds fair to you, doesn't it?"

"It does." Sydney piped up, trying to regain control of the situation, but it was no use. The two older men were stuck in a staring contest and Sydney could hear Steve's heartbeat hammering in his chest: whether it was from fear or fury, she wasn't entirely sure. "I'd be open to Isaac spending some time with us on a trial basis, he can get a feel for how we work and we can get a better idea of what he's capable of."

"I hear you took Isaac over to France." Steve stated, blatantly ignoring Sydney's offer. Isaac was peering up at her though, clearly trying to avoid either man's gaze. "Why?"

"Because I have family over there, I have connections." Chris answered smoothly and Charlie straightened up, reaching a hand out to grab at her dad's forearm.

"You left him there, unsupervised?" Steve pressed.

"He's not a child." Chris argued but his voice was still as calm as ever. "After what happened to Allison, I figured he and I could both use a breather."

"Who's Allison?' Steve quipped and leaned the tiniest bit forward. "And what happened to her?"

"Dad!" Charlie hissed and dug her fingernails into his arm, breaking the stare he had going on with Chris. Steve looked down at his daughter and saw the sadness in her eyes.

"Allison was my daughter." Chris breathed the words out, the words heavy as they escaped. "She was killed."

Steve immediately flinched at the man's words and he recoiled, having hated the idea that he had brought pain upon the man in front of him. His intention hadn't been to bring painful memories flooding back, it had merely been to get a better idea as to who Chris Argent really was and how he and Isaac had gotten over their time together.

Sydney cleared her throat and brought their attention back to her, "so, like I said before, if Isaac wants to spend some time with us, he can get a feel for our pack on a trial basis."

Isaac shot her a relieved look and she forced the tiniest of smiles onto her face. Charlie also looked at her with a sad expression and mouthed the words 'thank you'.

"Can I think about it?" Isaac asked and Sydney gave him a nod.

"Of course." She added in a soft, soothing tone. "I just want you to know that the offer is there."

"I appreciate it." Isaac bowed his head and a blanket of silence fell over them all.

Sydney cradled Bruin in her arms and focused her attention on the wee little baby in her possession. Charlie dropped her head against Sydney's shoulder and let out a sigh while the twins both made their way to their feet and swiftly exited the living room. Steve lowered himself down and sat on the arm of the couch, even going as far to uncross his arms before speaking one more time.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "for your daughter."

Chris met his gaze and held it, studying the fellow father in front of him. They didn't know each other, they had no idea what sort of pain the other had been through, but that didn't mean that they couldn't, at the very least, respect each other. They were both fathers, they were both involved in the supernatural, instead of trying to get under the other's skin, they should be working towards a mutual friendship.

"I appreciate that." Chris nodded.

Sydney flashed a smile in the hunter's direction and he nodded his understanding at her. Steve stood up from the end of the couch and stepped around so that he was sitting in the cushions that the twins had recently vacated. Once he was settled, he locked his eyes on Isaac and fought off the urge to growl at the kid that was after his daughter.

"What are your intentions with Charlie?" Steve asked, his voice coming out louder than he was expecting. It didn't matter though, it had the desired effect and he couldn't help but feel a little bit better at Isaac's flinching.

"Sir, they're nothing but noble." Isaac managed to get his words out without sounding too nervous. "I was hoping we could get to know each other and become friends."

"Friends." Steve said the words as though he was tasting them on his tongue. "Friends."

"Dad." Charlie groaned and rolled her eyes. "I was planning on taking him to the school with me today, I'm volunteering for the library clean up. Other people will be there and if it makes you feel better I can ask one of the twins to drop me off _and_ pick me up."

Steve seemed to consider Charlie's offer and looked to Sydney for her opinion. The female alpha offered him a shrug in response and Steve blew out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"Go, you don't need the twins to drop you off, I trust you." Steve locked his eyes on his daughter, watching as her face lit up at the prospect. "But if I find out that-"

"Dad." Charlie cut him off and quickly hopped up to her feet. "No funny business, I swear."

Steve shook his head at her and waved her off. Charlie beamed at him, stepped across the room and latched her hand onto Isaac's arm. She hauled him to her feet, glanced at Chris for his permission and when he nodded his head yes, she dragged him out of the living room, leaving Steve, Sydney and Chris alone.

Sydney scoffed at her beta's actions and stood up from her spot on the couch too. She wandered closer to Chris, who rose up to meet her, and when they were within reach of each other, she silently offered him up another opportunity to hold Bruin. Without hesitating for a second, Chris gently took the baby from her mother's hold and cradled her in his arms. A smile slowly crossed his features as he looked down at Bruin, taking in the sight of the beautiful baby girl and thinking of his own brave daughter who had been taken from him way too soon.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 ** _Thoughts?_**


	43. Chapter 43

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 43** **:**_

"Hey guys." Charlie quipped as she approached Liam and Mason, two of the people that she liked the most in Beacon Hills.

Liam was entertaining and rather adorable in a puppy-esque sort of way while Mason was exactly what she needed at that moment. He was funny, smart and very good at giving advice on her love life. Isaac was right behind her, wandering through the halls of the high school that he had once attended and at the sight of the two teenagers in front of him, he faltered, slowing his pace down.

Charlie glanced back at him having heard his footfalls decrease in pace and when she caught sight of the worried expression etched on his face, she forced a smile at him and hoped that it was enough to reassure him that these two boys were her friends. While she was aware that he had once been a part of the goings on in Beacon Hills, she was also aware that he hadn't been in the town in over a year, things definitely changed within that year.

"Who's your friend?" Liam asked and pointed his finger in Isaac's direction. "Syd get a new beta?"

"Nope, this is Isaac, he used to live here, actually he knows Scott." Charlie answered with a smile. "Isaac this is Liam and Mason."

Mason's eyes widened at the mentioning of Isaac's name and Charlie tipped her head to the side, studying her younger friend's curious expression.

"This is the one?" Mason's eyes were locked on Isaac but he was clearly directing his question towards Charlie. " _The_ Isaac, Isaac from France Isaac?"

Charlie nodded her head yes and, upon realizing that Mason still hadn't broken his stare on Isaac, cleared her throat, "this is _the_ Isaac."

"Intense." Mason mumbled and shook his head, apparently trying to gather his thoughts. Charlie knew that he was very, _very_ aware that Mason realized what was going on here, she had confided in him about Isaac way too long ago, the same night that they had all gone to the club and ended up being attacked by one of the first chimeras. It was the first night that Charlie had come face to face with the Dread Doctors.

"He's here, in town, for a little while and I thought that it'd be nice for him to get out and meet some people, reconnect with old friends even, thus we are here to help clean up the library." Charlie explained and Liam shook his head.

"Doesn't sound like fun to me." Liam grumbled.

"Liam is Scott's beta actually." Charlie spoke out, hoping to keep Isaac distracted enough that the idea of this being a date didn't happen to come up. She wasn't considering it anything more than what it was, a chance to spend some time with him, but maybe a part of him thought it was more than just that. Maybe he wanted to be more than friends with her.

"A beta who's currently on the outs with his alpha." Mason pointed out, Liam throwing his best friend a quick scowl. "Anyways, that's not important right now, what's important is what happened before we all got here."

Charlie narrowed her eyes in on Mason, who quickly jerked his thumb in Liam's direction. Okay, so whatever Mason was talking about directly involved Liam, that much was clear, but was there more going on in Beacon Hills than even Charlie was aware of.

"Liam?" Charlie prompted and Liam lifted his hands into the air. He waved them on, motioning for them to follow him and he began wandering down the hall, towards the library. Each and every one of them fell in step with him and Isaac nabbed Charlie's hand, lacing his fingers with hers in an attempt to feel even the slightest bit comfortable in the obviously uncomfortable situation.

She so easily blended with the people of Beacon Hills and he clashed so much. He didn't know these kids, he didn't know what they knew or what they were capable of. The place that had once been his home was foreign to him and all he could do to keep himself somewhat calm was hold onto the one thing that he was relatively comfortable with: Charlie.

"I went to the club looking for Hayden, and there's Josh, standing there, completely alive, just like Hayden because of Theo." Liam explained but Charlie found herself more confused than before he had spoken.

"Theo?" She scrunched up her nose. "What do you mean 'because of Theo'?"

"Theo brought them both back, that's what he's doing. He's, he's building a pack, his own pack of _dead_ Chimeras." Mason supplied but that didn't clear up any of Charlie's confusion.

"They both looked pretty alive to me but they're not the same. There was something about Hayden, there's something wrong about her." Liam threw in and Isaac fought off the urge to stop walking. Charlie felt him squeeze her hand harder and she looked over at him, smiling as reassuringly as possible.

"Did you know Theo Raeken from when you were a kid?" Charlie asked in a low tone and Isaac nodded his head yes.

"I knew him. I didn't really like him but I can't remember why." Isaac answered. "I think he just creeped me out, you know, like he was one of those weird kids. Mind you, I was probably just as weird to a lot of people too."

"It's more fun to be weird." Charlie offered with a shrug. "He creeps me out too but I think that's more because he's apparently building a pack and he's using dead chimeras to do it, dead chimeras that aren't exactly themselves."

"Maybe that's what dying does to you." Mason suggested and slowly the four of them came to a stop. Liam stood beside Mason while Charlie and Isaac, still holding hands, stopped just behind them. "What if it, what if it like darkens your soul. What if they're all evil now?"

At the conclusion of his sentence, the sound of the door opening just a few feet away made them all jerk and turn to face it. Charlie felt Isaac's grip tighten even more and she could feel his heart pounding against her palm. She leaned into him and peered up at him with a soft smile, immediately feeling his grip loosening on her.

She had to keep reminding herself that this was new to him, even if the school itself was someplace that he had been before. He didn't know Mason or Liam and he certainly didn't know the kid standing in front of them, the same kid that had died not too long ago.

"Hey, guys!" Corey smiled and he stepped forwards, approaching them rather quickly. Charlie flashed him a smile but his attention was solely focused on Liam and Mason. "Are you volunteering for the library clean-up, too?"

"Yeah." Mason stuttered at the same time that Liam fumbled over the word 'yes'.

"We are." Charlie piped up, suppressing a giggle in the process. "Come on Isaac, let's get a move on."

She gave his arm a gentle tug and Isaac fell in step behind her. As soon as they entered the library, she led him over to the back corner where they could start off cleaning by picking up the neglected and abandoned books strewn about across the floor. Isaac reluctantly let go of her hand and dropped down to a crouch, grabbing a few of the books, piling them up and lifting them into the air for Charlie to grab.

Taking them from him, she hugged them against her chest and swayed back and forth the slightest little bit. His eyes met hers and she smiled at him, enjoying the time she was spending with him. It wasn't as weird as she would've thought but then again, they had spoken to each other, they had _been_ speaking to each other for months. It wasn't like she hadn't seen his face or heard his voice, no, they had video chatted and spoke on the phone, and then when Sydney had admitted that she knew Isaac Lahey personally, well that had changed things, for the better.

She was glad he was here with her, she was happy that she had gotten the chance to meet him and talk to him face to face. So far their chemistry online was translating well to face-to-face and Charlie could only hope that things continued to get better from that point forward.

"Thanks for coming along with me." Charlie murmured and Isaac rose up to his feet. He looked down at her and a half smile took up residence on his face. "You didn't have to."

"I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to spend time with you, especially with your dad _and_ your alpha reacting the way they are to me being here." Isaac countered and Charlie let out a low laugh. Yes, her dad and her alpha, they were certainly intimidating but she had to give Isaac credit, he was handling them both rather well. "Your friends are rather interesting though."

Isaac turned sideways and looked around the library. When he spotted Mason not too far away talking to the kid that had approached them in the hall, he couldn't help but grin. Charlie, still hugging the books against her chest, nodded her head towards them and led the way, Isaac following along behind her.

"Mind if we join you two?" Charlie questioned and set the books that she had been holding in her arms on the shelf in front of Mason.

"Of course." Corey was quick to respond and even if Charlie wasn't a werewolf, she would've been able to pick up on Mason's anxiety. He was nervous but Charlie wasn't entirely sure why?

It was most likely due to the fact that Corey had been dead the last she had heard and here he was, standing in front of him acting as though nothing had ever happened.

"We'll just work right here in silence." Charlie drawled and nudged Isaac away from the two boys ever so slightly. She kept her eyes on Mason though and Isaac slipped his arm around her waist, drawing her against him as he sought out the comfort that she provided to him.

"So you're alive." Mason was clearly struggling to speak calmly and coolly to his friend and more recently his crush. Charlie had picked up on it right away, it hadn't been hard. Mason's heart had picked up at the mere sight of Corey, not to mention his scent had changed ever so slightly.

"Yeah." Corey nodded in response.

"That must have been pretty difficult to explain to your parents." She heard Mason continue to fumble for the right words. Isaac let out a soft snort next to her and she had to fight really hard not to break out into laughter right then and there.

"Not really, they didn't notice me much before that. I think they're just glad because they think they can sue the hospital now." Corey explained with a soft scoff of his own.

"They got to be happy you're alive, though?" Mason pointed out.

"Are you?" Corey shot back and Mason's heartrate spiked as the attention shifted from Corey to himself. Isaac shook his head and gave Charlie's side a gentle squeeze and Charlie peeled her eyes off of the train wreck happening in front of her to steal a quick look at Isaac.

"This is just sad." Isaac whispered. "Poor kid needs to be put out of his misery."

"Right." Charlie agreed with a grin, the two of them falling silent so that they didn't miss Mason crashing and burning in front of them.

"Me?" Mason stammered and his body did all sorts of weird jerking movements. "Yeah, um alive is definitely better than dead. You know, much better."

"You have no idea what to say to me, do you?" Corey quipped and Mason sucked in a quick breath before blowing it out.

"Not really, no." Mason confessed but he wasn't given much time to try and save the conversation as Corey spoke again.

"Can I ask you a question then?"

"Yeah, sure." Mason replied quickly, hoping to save face somehow.

"What are you doing Saturday night?" Corey pressed and the look on his face was completely serious. Charlie fought off the desire to let out a squeal of excitement and when Isaac caught how happy she was at what was transpiring in front of her, he released his hold on her and shook his head in amusement.

"Weird." Isaac grumbled and suddenly all eyes were on him.

"You're not interested in Mason, are you?" Corey asked and Isaac's attention jerked towards the boy that he didn't know at all.

"I'm not interested at all." Isaac smirked and took in the sight of the kid in front of him. That was exactly what he was: a kid. He didn't know the true extent of the supernatural, he had no idea what it really involved, he was just a young, naïve _kid_ ; one that had the audacity to ask Isaac if he was interested in Mason.

"Maybe I can sway you." Mason stated with a small, teasing smile.

"Hey!" Charlie cut in and set her sights on Mason. "Go after your zombie-chimera-boy, I'm the one who has dibs on Isaac- I mean, that is to say- uh- I- Isaac's not interested and I don't think you could sway him, no matter how hard you tried."

"Well even if I wanted to try, I have plans for Saturday night with Corey here." Mason jeered and Charlie shook her head at him. "Don't worry, your lover boy there is not even remotely close to being on my radar."

"He's not my lover boy." Charlie scoffed but it was clear, even to those that didn't have supernatural senses, that she was lying through her teeth. "Unless maybe he wants to be, but that's his choice, I can't make it for him."

"Charlie." Isaac piped up and tried to fight off the smile growing on his face.

"We're just friends." Charlie offered up with a slight shrug. "Not that we couldn't be more if we wanted to-"

"Charlie, come on, let's just go find somewhere else to work." Isaac suggested and shook his head at her in amusement. Charlie stole one last look at Mason, who was grinning at her, clearly trying to bite back a laugh, and then she latched her hand onto Isaac's and led him over to the other side of the room.

Isaac let out a laugh at her when she let go of his arm, spinning around to look directly at him.

"You're not interested in Mason _or_ Corey, right?" Charlie asked in a low, nervous tone.

"No, Charlie I don't play for that team." Isaac chuckled. "I'm much more interested in girls, especially ones like you."

"Like me?" She cocked her head to the side. "But what _about_ me?"

"What about you?" He countered.

"Well do you think you're interested _in_ me?"

"If I wasn't interested in _you_ , do you really think I would've let you bring me here?" Isaac remarked with a knowing smirk. Charlie blushed at his words but before she could say a word in response, he gave her a pat on the shoulder, brushed by her and made a beeline for the nearby table.

Charlie remained standing still, her mind reeling with what he had just said.

She turned to look at him and shook her head when she laid her eyes on Isaac's form.

Well he had certainly cleared _that_ up for her.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Isaac was right behind Charlie yet again as she approached Liam and Mason as they neared the end of the cleanup. He was watching the two boys speaking but he wasn't interested in what they were saying, he was more interested in Charlie and finding out what she was up to once she was done with the library.

He didn't want their time to end so soon and even though he had been doing manual labour in a place that he would've preferred not to be in, he had had fun. He liked spending time with Charlie and he wanted to spend more time with her, but he didn't know how to breach the subject.

"He's leaving, what's the plan?" Liam's voice cut into Isaac's thoughts and he watched as Charlie tensed at the boy's words. Isaac followed Charlie's line of sight and spotted the kid from earlier, Corey, putting the last of the chairs up onto the table not more than twenty feet away from them.

"I have a date with him on Saturday. I thought that _was_ the plan." Mason argued and Charlie wiggled her fingers at her side, a clear sign that she was anxious. Isaac slipped his digits in between hers and settled her down with just his touch. She let out a small sigh and closed the distance between their bodies, her hip brushing against his as they stood by, waiting for Liam and Mason to finish up their final task.

"You were supposed to ask about Theo." Liam pointed out. "We can't wait until Saturday."

"Sorry, but Theo leading an evil chimera pack wasn't exactly a natural progression to the conversation." Mason countered and Charlie snickered at his response to Liam. Mason was thoroughly entertaining and he was very interested in the supernatural, both good points in Charlie's opinion.

"Fine. I'll talk to him." Liam grumbled.

"Guys, we can always just follow him." Charlie suggested and she tore her eyes off of Corey, locking them onto Mason. "I mean, three out of four of us are werewolves, it wouldn't be that hard to keep track of him, right?"

"I can smell him from here." Isaac added and Charlie nodded her agreement. "It's a very unique scent."

"It's because he's a chimera." Charlie explained and Isaac flashed her a smile. "But if you really want, you can go try talking to him…"

Charlie looked back to the spot that Corey had been working in not more than a minute earlier except he wasn't there, he was gone. She glanced around the library, hoping that maybe he had found something else to do before he left but she couldn't locate him, in fact, taking a whiff of the air, she could tell that his scent was already starting to fade a tiny bit, just enough to suggest that he wasn't around her.

"Where'd he go?" Isaac quipped and he too stole a look around the library. "He was literally right there like two seconds ago."

"I can try texting him." Mason offered and produced his cell phone from out of his pocket.

Charlie and Isaac watched on as Liam turned his back to his friend, raking his hands through his air in an act of frustration. Okay, so maybe they should've just let Liam go try and talk to the kid, maybe then they wouldn't have lost Corey, but there had to be a better way to try and gain information, didn't there?

Mason's fingers were quick to type out a message on his phone and as soon as he hit the send button, he lifted his head and looked around from Charlie to Isaac and finally to Liam. A silence fell over them as they waited for Corey to respond but after a few seconds of awkwardly not speaking, Charlie cleared her throat.

"Does he usually take _forever_ to text back?" She inquired and Mason shrugged at her in response. "I mean, what teenager takes this long to reply to a text, especially from the guy they're crushing on, am I right?"

Isaac snorted next to her, clearly his mind was on all of the times that he had texted her, only to be met with silence until she had a spare minute to respond to him. She got busy sometimes and she wasn't the type of person who kept their phone out in the middle of class, which meant that Isaac ended up waiting more often than not for her to respond to him.

"I can try again." Mason offered and typed out another text. He hit the send button yet again and they all waited, trying to see if the kid would respond. After another awkward minute of silence and still nothing from Corey, Liam let out a growl and began marching for the library doors.

Without thinking about it too much, Charlie fell in stride behind Liam while Mason and Isaac did the same. The quartet busted through the doors and headed for the exit to the school, searching the hallways as they passed through them for any sign of Corey. It wasn't until they reached the main entrance, all four of them coming to a stop, that anyone made a sound and the first one to break the silence between them was Liam.

"I can smell him." Liam remarked in a low, nearly threatening tone.

"Mason, did you get anything yet?" Charlie focused her attention on the one connection that they had to the now missing boy.

"Corey's still not texting me back." Mason answered with a shake of his head.

"Because he left with Theo." Liam pointed out, jerking his hand towards the doors not too far away from them.

"I can smell Theo too." Charlie added and stepped towards the side of the hallway, running her fingers over one of the lockers. "Corey was here, he was _right_ here."

Isaac followed her lead and ran his hand over the locker too. He didn't feel anything but when he took in a deep inhale of the space in front of it, he could easily smell the zombie-chimera as Charlie had so nicely dubbed him. Yes, he had literally been right where they were at that very moment.

"Are you sure?" Mason asked and stepped closer to Liam.

"He was here." Liam exclaimed calmly, his eyes locked on the hallway leading to the door.

"Well then, we should do something, right?" Mason suggested and Charlie tossed him a small smile. "We should tell someone. Liam, you have to tell him."

"Him?" Isaac cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Right, you don't know." Charlie shook her head and sucked in a breath. "Liam tried to kill Scott the other night, personally I blame the super moon and Theo too, but Liam's sort of mad at himself I guess."

"That just explains _everything_." Isaac remarked sarcastically but when Charlie leaned against his side, wrapping her hands around his upper arm, he blew out a breath and relaxed at her touch. "Sorry."

"It's okay. If you have more questions, just ask me, I'll try my best to explain things to you." She said softly. "I guess Liam's a little afraid of going back to Scott after what he did."

She couldn't even begin to imagine what Liam was going through, the thought of her attacking Sydney to the point where she _wanted_ to kill her wasn't something that she had ever felt and Charlie didn't _want_ to ever feel it either. Sydney was her leader, her pack mate but most importantly, she was her friend, one of her _best_ friends and the fact that Liam had so easily turned on Scott was hitting her harder than she ever could've imagined.

For him to have gotten to that point, it must've taken some serious manipulation on Theo's part but it didn't make it any easier to accept. Liam was clearly still struggling with what he had done himself and Charlie knew that he felt bad enough without her adding to his frustration.

"You think he'll even talk to me?" Liam asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"I do." Charlie threw out.

"You're his beta, doesn't he have to?" Mason asked and Charlie pointed her finger in Mason's direction.

"Eventually." She nodded. "Scott's not a bad guy, you know that."

"Well yeah but- where would I even start?" Liam's voice was hoarse and Charlie could sense the emotions wafting off of him in waves. "'Sorry for trying to kill you'? 'Sorry for leaving you for dead so that Theo could kill you'?"

"If…if you start off with sorry, the rest probably won't even matter." Mason stated.

"Scott's a good person." Isaac spoke up, surprising them all with his words. "He'll understand."

"He will, and even if he doesn't right this minute, he'll get there." Mason added. "But you have to start somewhere."

"And that somewhere for me is with Syd." Charlie murmured.

Mason and Liam looked her way but Charlie had her hand in the air, waving her goodbyes to them. She motioned for Isaac to follow along behind her and without putting it off any longer, the two of them left the school hand in hand with the hopes that neither Sydney, Steve or Chris had changed their minds about the two of them.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 _ **poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Steve's pretty awesome ;) Thank you so much for the wonderfully kind words! You're absolutely right, bringing Isaac into the story made the most sense to me because I didn't get the impression he'd be coming back, but there's so many rumours (and I'll believe it when I see it) claiming Peter's going to be back. Again, thanks so much!**_


	44. Chapter 44

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 44** **:**_

"Theo was there." Charlie's voice carried from the front door throughout the house. She had pinpointed enough of the pack's scent to realize that they were gathered in the living room, but for her dad's sake, she had raised her voice that extra bit louder.

After all, he didn't have werewolf hearing.

Isaac trailed along behind her, his body stiffening as the two of them waltzed into the very room where the rest of the pack members were residing. Sydney was sitting on the floor with Bruin lying on the floor between her outstretched legs. Steve was relaxing in the chair across the way and the twins were on the couch, Aidan at one end lounging while Ethan was sitting straight up at the other end with a few papers in his hand.

Charlie wandered into the room without hesitating and lowered herself down to sit on the floor next to Sydney. Bruin let out a coo and reached her tiny little hand out towards Charlie, who offered Bruin her index finger in greeting. Isaac paused behind the couch and only when Charlie beckoned him forward did he move any further into the room.

He walked towards her with slow, calculated steps, feeling the lack of Chris' presence. He was alone with Charlie and her pack, he was alone with Charlie's father, and while he was a werewolf, with superhuman strength, he was still fearful of what might happen to him if he wound up on the wrong side. Isaac hesitantly lowered himself down to the floor, sitting right next to Charlie and peeking at the baby within the confines of her mother's legs.

"Theo was at the school?" Sydney glanced over at Charlie, tossing a smile in Isaac's direction as she did so. "Helping with the library clean-up?"

"Uh no, not exactly." Charlie answered with a shrug and sidled up closer to Sydney. Sydney gently pried Bruin's hand away from Charlie's finger and scooped her daughter up into her arms. Charlie opened her own arms and waited patiently as Sydney passed her over, Bruin immediately cozying up against Charlie and gripping the young beta tightly. "He showed up after."

"Why?" Aidan piped up from his place on the couch. He turned his head to the side and looked at his alpha and female pack mate, then he set his sights on Isaac, who didn't flinch under his intense gaze.

"To talk to Corey." Charlie offered. "I guess."

"Did you talk to him?" Steve spoke out and leaned forward in his chair, getting a tiny bit closer to his daughter. "Did he say anything to you?"

"I never actually saw him, but I could smell him."

"Me too." Isaac tossed in, hoping that his attempt at being helpful worked in his favour. When Sydney nodded her appreciation at him, he let out a soft sigh. "Theo Raeken always gave me the creeps."

"I can see that." Sydney nodded. "He gives me the urge to rip his heart out and watch it beat in my hand."

"Also understandable." Isaac tried to tease but his tone was more anxious than anything. "I don't understand why he's still alive though."

"Oh that's easy, because I had to make a deal with him so that we could find the sheriff. Trust me, if it was up to me, I'd have killed him ages ago."

A silence fell over them all as they took in Sydney's words. Sure Charlie knew that her alpha had it out for Theo and she figured that Ethan and Aidan would go along with whatever Sydney said, but even her dad seemed to be implicating that he was all for whatever needed to be done. Had the pack explained to her dad what had happened in detail, had they told him about Theo going after Scott and leaving the sheriff for dead?

Would that warrant a death sentence in his eyes though?

"On that note," Ethan let out a soft sigh, "have we figured out what exactly he's even trying to do? What _is_ his end game?"

"He's got his pack, doesn't he?" Aidan threw out.

"Yeah, of zombified chimeras." Charlie supplied. "But he's not an alpha, and I think that's a problem for him. Why else would he have gone through all that trouble to get Liam to turn on him, to try and steal Scott's powers, if he didn't want red eyes?"

Sydney opened her mouth to respond but she remained silent, taking Charlie's words to heart. Okay, well it wasn't all that farfetched of an idea to think that maybe Theo was causing all this trouble simply because he wanted to be an alpha but at the same time, there were other alphas within the county limits, other alphas that he hadn't even attempted to take out; herself included.

So then why was Theo set on Scott and Scott alone?

"Scott won't kill him." Isaac mumbled.

"What?" Charlie jerked her head to the side and looked directly at Isaac. "Like at all?"

"I doubt it." Isaac's voice stayed low.

"Scott doesn't have to kill him." Ethan explained vaguely and everyone's eyes were on him in an instant. "Why would he have to kill him when there's a chance that he could rehabilitate him? He has valuable skills, he's good at what he does, why waste his potential?"

Ethan had a point, a very good point, but Sydney let out a growl at him nonetheless. She understood where he was coming from, she knew that killing wasn't always the answer, but in her head, this would've been justified. Theo was bad news, he was nothing but trouble and she couldn't trust him, no matter what.

At the fleeting thought of helping Theo, she let out a groan and her mind immediately drifted to Peter. Was he not very much the same as Theo? Had he not traded her for power? He too had once tried to kill Scott, and for what?

"Maybe we _could_ use him." Aidan threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "I mean, we've all done some pretty questionable things-"

"Like Boyd, Erica?" Isaac cut in, leveling the twin lying down with a glare. Sydney shook her head at the boys and slowly rose up to her feet, pausing as she moved to press a kiss against the top of her baby's head. When she was standing up straight, she lifted her hands up in surrender and sucked in a breath.

"We've all done things we regret." Sydney stated in a soft tone.

"But do they," Isaac shot back and she cocked her head to the side, "regret it?"

"I do." Ethan bowed his head in an act of defeat. "Deucalion had us all wrapped around his finger."

"I wish I could take it back." Aidan added in quickly and hauled himself up into a sitting position. "We're not those people anymore."

"Nor do we have red eyes." Ethan said, lifting his head up. "If I could say something to you that would make a difference, I would, but I know there's nothing to say, except we're sorry."

Isaac remained quiet and when Charlie set her hand on his knee, he looked down at where she was touching him. He blew out another breath and shook his head, leaving Charlie to wonder what exactly was going through his head at that very moment.

Sydney watched on, hoping that Isaac wouldn't hold it against her for accepting the twins into her pack. She knew what they had done, she knew what they were capable of when she asked them to be her betas, but to her, it didn't matter as much as having two strong, skilled, fierce former alphas on her side. They had yet to steer her wrong and it was much nicer having them around now that she had to worry about keeping Bruins safe too.

"I'm sorry for what you went through." Sydney apologized as well and she turned her head to look around the room. "I understand the pain they caused but they're good to me."

"They're good for Bruin." Steve commented. Isaac looked up at the man still sitting in the chair, his eyes laced with tears that were threatening to spill over onto his cheeks. Isaac blinked at him, forcing the tears to remain at bay, and waited for the man to continue speaking. "If Syd here didn't have them, she'd be an omega, much more vulnerable to attack, and with Bruin in her life, she's at even more of a risk. With the twins, and my daughter, she's protected, she's safe, and that little girl will be able to grow up without having to worry about staying alive."

"You trust them?" Isaac grumbled. "You trust them to be around your daughter?"

"I do." Steve bowed his head. "If I didn't, I never would have let Charlie come here to Beacon Hills and I certainly never would've asked if Syd would take her into her pack. I understand that you have history, but to me, they're not those same people that you knew."

"Plus Syd's here to keep them in line." Charlie smirked. "She's the best alpha there is."

"Maybe not the best." Sydney chuckled.

"Better than Derek." Isaac scoffed but at the sound of Sydney continuing to chuckle, a small smile took up residence on his face. Okay, so maybe Sydney wasn't so bad, maybe her pack wasn't as intimidating as he had originally believed, that didn't mean that he was ready to trust the twins, but maybe he could trust Charlie.

"You know, you're welcome to train with us." Sydney offered with a smile. "Maybe you and the twins can work out some aggression while fighting?"

"So long as he's not working out any aggression with my little girl." Steve countered with a pointed look directed at Isaac. "So far I don't mind you Isaac but I know that if you hurt Charlie, Syd here will decimate you before I even get the chance, and if she winds up pregnant, then you better watch your back because werewolves won't be the only thing coming after you."

"Sir?" Isaac tilted his head to the side nervously. "I would never…nothing will happen between me and Charlie, I mean, your little girl, I swear."

"I believe you." Steve relaxed back into his chair. "Maybe you'll think this is good news then, I'm heading back to Colorado tomorrow, I've been away from my home long enough."

"Really dad?" Charlie's voice was borderline whining. She looked from her dad to Sydney and then back to her dad. "You don't have to go."

"I have patients kid, I've got a job to do. As much fun as it's been vacationing here with you, it's time for me to go home." Steve explained.

"And you can go with him if you want." Sydney added.

Charlie sucked in a breath and met her alpha's gaze, wondering where her offer had come from. As far as Charlie knew, Sydney liked having her around, she liked having everyone in Beacon Hills and Charlie liked _being_ in Beacon Hills. She had friends here, she had Isaac, and most importantly she had her pack.

"Why would I want to go?" Charlie quipped, confusion evident in her tone. She readjusted her hold on Bruin but Sydney bent over and took her daughter out of her beta's hands. Settling Bruin against her chest, Sydney looked towards Steve to supply an explanation.

"Syd just wasn't sure if you wanted to stay here what with the Dread Doctors and all the chimeras running around loose."

Charlie looked longingly at her alpha and murmured, "I want to stay."

"You can." Steve replied. "But we just wanted to make sure that you really wanted to."

"I know how overwhelming it can all be." Sydney confessed. "I just wanted you to have an out if you didn't want to deal with all this."

Charlie shook her head no, solidifying her stance on wanting to stay. As much as she'd like to go back to Colorado with her dad, she knew that she was needed in Beacon Hills. Sydney and the twins were going to need her, they were going to need anyone that could help them, because she knew that things were about to get a whole lot worse.

"I like it here, I want to stay." Charlie stated firmly and Sydney's lips turned upwards into a smile.

"That's what I figured you'd say." Steve teased. "If you need me for anything, or you want me to come and get you at any time, call me, okay?"

"Yes, of course." Charlie nodded her head and looked around the room at each and every person there with her. She stole quick glances at the twins, thankful that they were there to support her and look after her. Her gaze lingered longer on Sydney and Bruin, who were two of the best things to ever happen to her. She locked eyes with her dad and caught his proud smile, knowing that he approved of her staying made it all the better.

When she finally looked at Isaac, she couldn't help but grin. Yes, this is where she wanted to be, she wanted to be in Beacon Hills with her friends, with her pack, and with the guy that she was crushing on.

"Good." Steve smiled back at her.

"Now, can we jump back to the topic of Theo for just a second?" Sydney broke in, Charlie waving her hand, motioning for her to go on. "Did anyone tell Scott, or Stiles even?"

"Uh, Liam was going to go try talking to him but he wasn't feeling that confident." Charlie answered. "He did try to kill Scott and all, I can't imagine that wouldn't be an awkward conversation."

"We've all got to start somewhere. Maybe I should give Stiles a call, see if he needs some help or anything." Sydney said, her words trailing off. She cradled Bruin in her arms and took off out of the room, leaving everyone else behind her.

It didn't take too much longer for the twins to get up and leave, neither one of them wanted to stick around and make Isaac any more leery of them. When they were out of sight, Charlie looked between the two remaining males in the living room and let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Remember what I said." Steve announced and rose up to his feet, his eyes level with Isaac and his tone deadly serious. "You hurt her and bad things will happen to you."

Charlie watched her dad as he too walked out of the room, leaving her all alone with Isaac. When he was out of her line of sight, she turned to face Isaac and couldn't help but snort in amusement at the terrified look on his pale face.

"Just don't hurt me." Charlie teased.

"Yeah, no, I definitely got _that_." Isaac replied calmly, but all Charlie could do was smile.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Bruin had started wailing before Sydney had even gotten off the phone with Stiles. She had to cut their conversation short because the baby was crying so loud, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter if she didn't get to talk to Stiles as long as she wanted, what mattered was taking care of her little girl.

Sydney set the phone down on the counter and tried to get Bruin to stop crying by drawing out her pain, but Sydney's veins didn't turn to black and Bruin seemed to cry harder as she gently squeezed her little hands. It was when she turned her attention to the fridge that she dared to try another tactic. If her baby girl was hungry, then food she would get.

Fumbling with the formula and getting it into the bottle, Sydney let out a frustrated groan and readjusted Bruin ever so slightly as she tried to get a better grip on her baby. Bruin wailed louder at the movements and without completely giving up, Sydney nabbed one of the clean, dry tea towels off the counter and spread it out as best as she could.

Once it was open and out as nicely as she could manage, she grabbed hold of Bruin more firmly and gently laid her down on the tea towel. Without hesitating, Sydney grabbed another towel off the stack, rolled it up messily and gingerly set it up around Bruin's head. By this point in time, Charlie had shown up in the doorway with a smile on her face and without warning, she wandered into the kitchen and nabbed the bottle half full of formula off the counter and went right to work on finishing it.

Sydney gave her a nod of appreciation and stood in front of Bruin, who was lying on the counter still wailing. A few minutes after Charlie had arrived in the kitchen, she moved to stand next to Sydney, the bottle ready and full of formula for Bruin to enjoy. Sydney took hold of the bottle and cautiously prodded the tip of it at Bruin's mouth.

When she took it in between her lips and began sucking back her formula, Sydney let out a soft, relieved sigh and slipped her free arm around Charlie's shoulders.

"Thank you." Sydney murmured and felt her body relaxing against Charlie's.

"No problem." Charlie shrugged and tipped her head sideways in order to get a better look at Sydney. "Not having Peter around must be hard."

"Uh." Sydney froze at the mentioning of the man's name and before she could stop herself, tears were welling up in her eyes. They didn't fall though, not yet, and as Sydney sucked in a deep gulp of air, she tried to fight them off. Crying wasn't something she was fond of doing, especially in front of other people, but it was too much sometimes.

She missed him, it was as simple as that. She missed having Peter around and at the mere thought of him not being with her, and Bruin, she found herself feeling twice as sad because the fact of the matter was, he had no idea that Bruin even existed.

It was like Malia all over again and that thought alone drove her to the brink sometimes.

"I miss him." Sydney confessed in a whisper.

"It's okay to miss him. He should be here." Charlie prodded. "It's his own fault but it still sucks."

"Yeah." Sydney replied shakily and blinked her eyes quickly, forcing the tears out onto her face, feeling them cascade over her cheeks. "He's…he's missing out, that's for sure."

"He is." Charlie agreed with her and lifted her hand up, running it over Sydney's back in a soothing manner. Sydney let out a soft sigh and squeezed her eyes shut, desperate to pull herself together before she reached a full on sob. "Bruin is the sweetest little thing, it sucks that she's currently without her father."

"Even if he's a complete psychopath?" Sydney popped her eyes open and looked at Charlie, searching for her approval. She knew that Bruin would eventually suffer from not having her father around, but the idea that Peter wasn't an upstanding citizen always weighed on her mind.

Part of her often wondered if maybe Bruin was better off without him in her life. After all, it wasn't like Malia had turned out all that badly. Then again, she had been adopted, she had been raised by a loving set of parents until she had turned into a coyote and lived for years in her animal form.

It wasn't like Malia had been with _just_ her mom.

Maybe she could do this though, maybe she could raise Bruin to be the best that she could be without Peter by her side. Sydney sucked in a shaky breath and considered the circumstances: maybe she didn't have a choice, maybe she'd never have Peter back.

Was she okay with that thought?

No, no she wasn't but she had done so many things in her life already that she hadn't exactly been okay with and so far, everything had turned out just fine.

She had Charlie in her life, she had Steve, plus she had the twins in her pack. It wasn't like she was completely alone and sure the day would come when they'd branch out and have families of their own, but she knew that she had time before that happened. Maybe she could handle things on her own, maybe she could raise Bruin without Peter.

"What are you thinking about?" Charlie asked in a hushed tone.

"Peter." Sydney offered up with a sigh. "I just wish…I don't even know what I wish. He gave up on me, he continued to go after Scott knowing that he was going to lose me. Do you think maybe he doesn't deserve to know Bruin?"

Charlie hummed as she considered her answer. In her head, it wasn't wrong for Sydney to think something like that. Peter had his chance and he had gone on with his plan as if Sydney didn't mean a thing to him at all, but did that really constitute him not deserving to know his own daughter, his own flesh and blood?

"I think that maybe Bruin has the potential to bring out the good in him." Charlie answered after a few seconds.

"You think he has good in him?" Sydney countered and Charlie chuckled.

"I think maybe. He picked you, he loves you, it's not like he knows about Bruin so yeah, maybe she'll be enough to pull him back to you, maybe she'll be enough to change him."

"Right." Sydney nodded her head slowly and locked her eyes on Bruin, who was still sucking back the bottle full of formula.

"Do _you_ think he has good in him?" Charlie asked bluntly and Sydney sucked in a nervous breath. She freed herself from Charlie and gently ran her fingers over Bruin's arm, feeling the calming effect that simply touching her little girl had on her.

"I think that maybe he regrets some of his past." Sydney answered steadily. "I'd like to hope so anyways. He wasn't all bad, not with me."

"I have faith." Charlie smiled.

"In Peter Hale?"

"In you." Charlie gave Sydney's shoulder a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Without another word shared between them, Charlie pulled her hand away from her alpha and made her way out of the kitchen, leaving Sydney all alone with her tiny baby girl.

She watched Bruin contently sipping away on her formula, amazed by how much she could love someone. Bruin was it for her, she was the one thing in her life that mattered more than anything and if Sydney had to take care of her without Peter, well, she'd still have her pack, she wouldn't be alone.

"Mommy will always be there for you." Sydney murmured and leaned down closer to Bruin. She pressed a soft kiss against the baby's forehead and when she straightened up, she couldn't help but smile.

Even with tearstains streaming down her cheeks, Sydney couldn't have felt any better about having Bruin in her life. When she had first found out about being pregnant, it had been the worst thing that could've happened to her. She had been without her mate, she had been with two people that she barely knew, but they had made it work, they had even added a new beta in the form of Charlie to their pack.

She wouldn't have traded any of her betas for anything in the world, not even to have Peter back. They were her family for however long they'd be loyal to her and when they eventually went off on their own, started families or fell in love, she'd support them the same way they supported her.

Whether or not Peter came back to her didn't matter, she'd make sure nothing ever hurt Bruin but she'd never have to do it alone. That, in her head, was what pack was for.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 _ **Do you guys think Sydney should feel differently towards Peter?**_


	45. Chapter 45

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 45** **:**_

Once she had managed to get Bruin calmed down after her bottle, Sydney had debated her next move. She had gotten it out of Stiles that he and Scott were going to go and try to get Kira back, which meant a trip out of state, but Sydney was concerned about them both. Stiles and Scott were having problems of their own, and after Charlie's little fact session about Theo walking out of the school with one of the undead chimeras, well she was a little more than just concerned.

It wasn't like she didn't think Stiles and Scott could handle things, on the contrary, she had faith that they could take care of whatever needed to be taken care of without her getting in their way, but that didn't mean she liked the idea of the two of them hopping in Stiles' less than functioning jeep and heading off to some faraway land to get back a kitsune who was turning dark side.

Pulling into the driveway in her car, with Bruin strapped into the car seat in the back, Sydney glanced over and spotted Stiles standing at the front of his jeep. The hood was in the air and there was a lightbulb, in a cage, hanging from the inside of the hood. She rolled her eyes at him, knowing that he was pretty much winging the repairs. She'd give him credit though, he always seemed to get the jeep moving again and he definitely knew more about cars than she did.

He threw her a wave but didn't say anything and Sydney went about her business, getting out of the car and then ducking into the backseat to free Bruin from her restraints. Gathering her bundled up daughter into her arms, Sydney pushed the door shut with her hip and sauntered around to stand a few feet away from Stiles, taking note of all the bottles of fluid stacked haphazardly in the back of his jeep.

"What's with all that?" Sydney spoke first and motioned her hand in the direction of the back of the jeep.

"Oh that," Stiles trailed off, "there may be a minor leak, it's nothing to worry about though, tiny little leak."

"Right." She fought back a chuckle and continued to look over the jeep.

"You brought Bruin." Stiles remarked and Sydney nodded her head yes.

"She's my kid." Sydney shrugged, her mind wandering to all of the help her pack had provided to her and Bruin both in recent weeks. "I think I should be the one taking care of her and if that means I have to bring her to see you, then that's what I have to do."

"Point taken." Stiles gave her another little wave and he turned his attention right back to the exposed engine in front of him. She kept her eyes trained on him but readjusted her baby so that she was snuggly cuddled against her chest.

"Plus she's a good way to diffuse tense situations, you can't fight when there's a baby within reach." Sydney remarked and Stiles let out a scoff at her words. "Well, you can't."

"No, no you definitely can't." Stiles sounded exasperated but Sydney didn't care. She could sense that the mood had lightened the tiniest little bit and if that was all it took for Stiles to feel a little bit better, then her job was done.

"How's your dad?" Sydney asked bluntly as she readjusted her hold on Bruin yet again. It wasn't that Bruin was heavy, or squirming for that matter, it was just because she didn't want to be too still for too long for fear that the baby would grow bored or restless. Stiles turned his head sideways slowly and stole a glance at the alpha standing next to the jeep, Sydney leaning against the side of the vehicle with her hip and settling in for a conversation that she wasn't exactly excited to have.

"Better." Stiles answered and let out a soft sigh, his thoughts drifting to his father, who was still laid up in a hospital bed. Sydney hated the mental picture of him lying there nearly motionless and suffering before they had managed to figure out the reason as to why he hadn't been getting better. Poison, from a piece of bone marrow, something so small, so simple, had nearly drained the life right out of the sheriff.

"That's good." Sydney nodded her head, stealing a look at her own child. She hated to think of how the sheriff was feeling, or how Stiles was feeling for that matter. Stiles had come so close to losing the only parent he had left and Sydney knew all too well how that felt. She had gone through that on her own and she still understood how awful something like that could be

She still felt the pain of losing her parents hit her every so often and it generally happened when she least expected it. It was almost worse since she had become a parent in her own right, she was responsible for a life, she had to protect Bruin with everything, just like her parents had done for her when she was a youngster. Not a day went by that she didn't say a silent prayer for what her parents had done the night that they had been slaughtered. They had fought until their last dying breaths to keep Sydney alive.

"He'll get there." Stiles said in a low tone.

"I know but I mean, if you ever need an adult for anything-"

"You?" Stiles scoffed with a sad smile forming on his lips. "You want me to come to you when I need an adult?"

"You're right." Sydney huffed. "I'm the farthest thing from an adult."

"You're good though."

"Sure." She smirked. "At the very least, I can send Charlie over to help, she's pretty mature."

"More than you. She's an adultier adult." Stiles teased and with one final shake of his head, he focused back on the engine in front of him.

Sydney peered over the side of the jeep and watched on in amazement as Stiles pulled pieces out from under the hood. He seemed to know what he was doing but Sydney knew better, she had been with him on the road to Mexico when he had put the engine back together without actually piecing one of the parts back where it had come from.

He continued to play with the engine, pulling parts off, putting pieces back, tightening and loosening bolts. She didn't say a word though, she merely watched, an intent look on her face. It wasn't until Bruin let out a loud shriek that she focused on anything but Stiles. Looking down at her baby girl, Sydney smiled and ran her hand over Bruin's head, drawing out any sort of pain that she might be suffering from.

Bruin relaxed in her hold, her small head resting against the front of Sydney's shoulder.

"I still can't believe that's Peter's kid." Stiles shook his head in disbelief and Sydney sucked in a breath of air, fighting off the urge to laugh at Stiles' proclamation.

"He already had one before Bruin here came along." Sydney pointed out. "It's not like the thought is impossible."

"Malia, yeah, okay, you have a point but this is totally, completely different, like not the same at all." Stiles fumbled over his words and Sydney bit back a laugh as he tried to argue his side. "I like her."

"Bruin?" Sydney quipped, trying to clear up any lingering confusion she might've had. She knew that Stiles had been involved with Malia once upon a time, in fact, she wasn't entirely sure what they were at that particular moment, but it wasn't hard to see that Stiles was focused on other things. "You like Bruin?"

"Yes." Stiles breathed the word out.

"Me too." Sydney joked and Stiles rolled his eyes at her. "I know what you mean though. It's hard to believe something so small and sweet like Bruin here could be a product of Peter and his psychotic personality."

Stiles didn't even dignify her words with a response, instead, he rolled his eyes at her one more time. She shook her head at him and let out a snort of amusement, okay, so Stiles had a point, it _was_ hard to believe sometimes that Bruin's father was none other than Peter Hale, but did that warrant an eye roll of the caliber that Stiles had just given her?

"Let's just hope that she grows up to be mostly like you." Stiles teased and Sydney couldn't help but completely agree with him. The idea of Bruin taking after her father had crossed her mind, but Sydney hated to think that one day her sweet little innocent girl could turn into something as mean and manipulative as Peter.

It wasn't farfetched, Sydney could look at Malia and see Peter in her more and more each time she laid eyes on the girl but Sydney wasn't going to let anything bad happen to Bruin. Malia had spent a lot of her childhood running around in the woods in the form of a coyote, if Sydney had anything to say about Bruin growing up, it would be that she was going to have her mother, her _real_ mother around for most of it.

"You think the world could handle another me?" Sydney asked in a joking tone but the look on Stiles' face was stone cold serious. He didn't take her words as a joke, he didn't even look like he found them remotely amusing.

"I think the world would benefit from more people like you." Stiles countered in a low voice. He let out a soft sigh and Sydney sucked in a breath of air, willing herself to keep calm.

Stiles always had a way of making her feel better and whether it was him agreeing with her that she needed to be her own person without Peter or if he was informing her that the world needed more people like her, it didn't matter. Stiles was most definitely one of the few people that she trusted with her life, outside of her own pack.

"You always know what to say to a girl to melt her heart." Sydney forced a smile at him and Stiles shook his head. He straightened up and took a step closer to her, gently running his palm down Bruin's back, taking in the sight of the calm baby in Sydney's grasp.

"You deserved better than what you got, you know that, don't you?" Stiles murmured and met her eyes. He held her gaze and Sydney didn't dare look away, instead, she stared right back at him, not even bothering to blink until she absolutely had to.

"It's not so bad." Sydney tried to brush it off, she knew what Stiles was referring too. Anyone in their right mind knew what Stiles was referring to; she had chosen to get involved with Peter though, there was only one person who she could lay blame on and that was herself. "Aside from the fact that Bruin here doesn't have a father in her life, I'm doing okay. I have a good pack, nice house, and the sweetest little baby girl I could ever have asked for."

"But you shouldn't…you shouldn't have to do it alone." Stiles remarked. "He should be here, with you, with his _daughter_."

Shaking her head slightly, she finally broke eye contact with him and looked down at her bundle of joy. She wouldn't trade Bruin for anything in the world and yes, it was definitely hard without Peter there to help her, but she knew what type of person he was, she knew that they had talked about kids and both of them had agreed that children weren't really in the equation.

She couldn't hold that part against him, and it wasn't like he _knew_ about Bruin. If he had, Sydney liked to believe that maybe he wouldn't have traded her for power, maybe he never would have aligned himself with Kate and gone after Scott. It didn't work like that though, she couldn't go back in time, she couldn't change the present, and the hardest part about having Bruin was that she didn't know if the girl would ever know her father.

"Peter should've done things differently." Stiles pointed out.

"You're not wrong." Sydney gave her head another slight shake and blew out a breath. "I'm not alone, I'm not _doing_ it alone. I have-"

"Your pack." Stiles cut in with a knowing smile. "I know. I think they're good for you, I think Charlie's good for you, but no matter how loyal or protective they are, they're not that little girl's father."

Sydney lifted her hand up and gently patted Bruin on the back before twisting her upper body and beginning to rock her the tiniest little bit. Stiles ran his hand over Bruin's back once more but peeled his touch away from her and took up his place in front of the jeep.

"Do you think maybe she'd be better off without him in her life though?" Sydney pressed. She had fears of her own, fears that if Bruin and her had been with Peter all along that he might've been bad for them. Peter Hale wasn't that great of a person, he was barely functional as a human with her around, but did that mean that he wasn't capable of love and understanding, or being gentle and kind when it came to his own offspring?

"I think so long as Bruin has you, then the world has nothing to worry about."

Sydney bowed her head and accepted Stiles' answer. She hated to think that maybe Bruin _was_ better off without her father in her life but it didn't make missing him any less painful. If what Stiles said rang true then Sydney knew how important she was to the baby in her grasp.

Bruin was going to need her, she was going to rely on her and if Sydney could manage to keep Bruin on the right path, with or without Peter's involvement, then there was no stopping Bruin Hale from growing up to be anything but good.

"Speaking of babies," Sydney piped up and prayed that she could keep the conversation off of her and Bruin, "I can hear Liam inside."

"Yeah."

"Are him and Scott, like…I don't know, back together?" Sydney quipped and Stiles lifted his hands up into the air in surrender. She watched him as he looked back at the house, the two of them silent outside. She could hear them conversing, she could hear Scott talking to Liam, Liam nearly pleading for instructions from his alpha, but she had no idea how bad things had gotten between Scott and his pack.

"They're working on it." Stiles answered after a few beats of quiet. "I don't think he trusts him anymore."

"He tried to kill him, I think that mistrust is warranted." Sydney pointed out with the tiniest hint of a smile. "I don't know the details though, I don't care to, but I know that it's a lot better to have someone like Liam on your side instead of Theo's, just take that into consideration."

Stiles nodded his head in agreement and Sydney cracked a bigger smile. She didn't know what Scott's intentions were, she didn't know what he was planning to do to Liam in order to feel comfortable around the young beta, but she certainly wouldn't want to face off against Liam. He was spry, he was scrappy, he was all the things that she could appreciate in a beta, but it wasn't like she completely blamed Scott for his hesitation.

Liam _had_ tried to kill him. If someone ever tried to kill her then she didn't know what she'd do, but let them off with a free pass wasn't the first solution to come to mind. She'd maybe give him some time, talk to him to get a better idea of where his head was at, but she definitely wouldn't be keeping him at a distance, not like Scott was doing currently and not when they were facing an enemy in the form of Theo Raeken _and_ the Dread Doctors.

"There's bigger things to worry about, you and I both know that." Sydney stated.

Stiles didn't bother responding; he simply turned his attention back down to the jeep and continued on with whatever he had been doing before she had shown up. The jeep itself was wearing out, Sydney knew that much by looking at it, but the mere fact that it was being held together by duct tape was more cause for concern, especially if he was planning on heading off on a road trip.

A comfortable silence fell over them and Sydney turned her attention back down to Bruin, who was grabbing and pulling at the ends of Sydney's hair. It wasn't until Scott wandered out of the house that Sydney dared to look away from her daughter and when she did, it was only to throw a soft, welcoming smile in Scott's direction.

He smiled back at her and when he approached the jeep, he reached his hand out, gripped the light hanging from the hood and freed it so that he was holding it closer to the engine that Stiles was working on.

"So, what did he want?" Stiles questioned and paused in his working for a few seconds to focus on Scott.

"To help." Scott answered simply.

"He's a good kid." Sydney threw in and Stiles turned away from Scott, only to gauge her level of seriousness. When he realized that she was being genuine in her words, Stiles turned his attention back to Scott.

"You going to let him?" Stiles pressed.

"Eventually, I guess." Scott shrugged in response.

"Syd and I were just talking and maybe you should consider letting him help." Stiles explained.

"We were talking but I don't want you to think that I'm on his side. I think that you and Liam need to figure out a way to work together." Sydney added in. "Wouldn't you rather have him as an ally than an enemy?"

Scott held the light steady while Stiles continued to plug away at the engine, trying to get the jeep in a good enough working order that it would make it to their destination. Sydney knew they were going to get Kira but she hadn't really thought too much about their form of transportation. If she had left Bruin at home, and didn't need the car seat in the back of her own car, she would've been inclined to hand the keys over right then and there. But she hadn't left Bruin at home, and she didn't know if she'd need the car seat, plus she wasn't about to walk all the way back to her house, werewolf or not, she didn't want to take any chances.

The Dread Doctors were still out there, Theo was still out there, and Sydney didn't want to be put in a situation where she'd be vulnerable to attack, especially not with Bruin in her possession.

"It's not a big deal." Scott piped up. "I just want to get going, so we can get Kira."

"Okay, but shouldn't he be a little higher on your priority list right now? I mean, since he's the only other actual werewolf, your only actual beta." Stiles pointed out matter-of-factly.

"You didn't see the way that he came at me." Scott argued but Stiles didn't even flinch. "You didn't see the look in his eyes."

"Well, I've been with you on a full moon, so I've seen that look." Stiles countered easily and Sydney tossed him a reassuring smile to show that she completely understood how scary it could be to face a feral werewolf. "You want to get the band back together, Scott, you don't leave out the drummer."

"Drummer's are very important, I mean, Ringo Starr was always _my_ favourite Beatle." Sydney pointed out with a teasing smirk. Stiles shook his head at her remark and finished whatever it was he was doing at that exact moment.

Sydney and Scott stayed quiet and just watched him work and when he straightened up, they continued to watch him as he wandered around to the driver's side of the jeep without saying a word to her, or Scott. She continued to look at him in silence as he reached inside the driver's side of the jeep and turned the key that had been left hanging in the ignition slot, something she hadn't paid much attention to earlier.

When the engine spluttered briefly and purred to life, she couldn't help but smile. Stiles wasn't a mechanic at all, yet he had managed to get the vehicle running. Whether or not it made it to their destination, well she didn't want to think about that. The idea of the two boys winding up stranded on the side of the road was nerve-wracking, but it wasn't like she was going to stop them.

"You want my Triple A card?" Sydney hollered out in a teasing tone and even Scott looked her way, an uneasy expression on his face. "No, okay, but if you need me, you call me, got it McCall?"

"Got it." Scott nodded his head in understanding and when Stiles was back standing in his place in front of the jeep, he lifted his arms up into the air in celebration.

Leave it to Stiles, a teenager who had no business fixing cars, to get his jeep running without the help of a certified mechanic, or even a vast knowledge of car repairs.

"Success!" Stiles hooted with a joy filled smile. "Yes!"

"Congratulations, you're still driving a piece of junk." Sydney snorted.

"A piece of junk that now _runs_." Stiles proclaimed and she snorted at him yet again. There was definitely humour to the situation, Stiles was an entertaining guy, but she wasn't going to push it anymore. She wasn't going to tease him because in the bigger picture, he had gotten the jeep working again.

"You two be careful." Sydney cooed and Stiles nodded at her. He made sure the light that Scott was holding was out of the way, then he reached up and grabbed the edge of the hood, pausing with his fingers around the edge of the metal slab.

Sydney took a step towards her car, giving Stiles enough room so that when he brought the hood down, she didn't get caught in the crossfire, nor did Bruin.

"Let me grab my bag." Scott announced and handed the light back to Stiles, who clicked the switch on the side, turning it off in the process.

He wandered towards the source of the electricity and pulled the plug on the lamp, then he wound the chord around the cage portion and stepped to the back of his jeep, tucking the light into the back. Sydney took another step towards her car but her eyes never left Stiles, it wasn't until he turned to face her that she said another word to him and this time, it was only to warn him.

"Seriously, be careful."

"I will Syd." Stiles acquiesced and without warning, he closed the distance between him and the two girls. He didn't hug her, he didn't try to embrace her, he simply leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss against Bruin's head before looking into Sydney's eyes and smiling at him. "You be careful too."

"Always." She murmured. "And seriously, if you need me for anything, if your jeep dies halfway there and you need a ride, you call me."

"I will."

Scott reappeared from inside the house with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He smiled across at Sydney but made quick work of getting into the passenger's side while Stiles climbed into the driver's seat. Without another word between any of them, Stiles put the jeep into gear and Sydney turned her back to them.

"It's a minor leak." Stiles's voice carried out from the jeep and she stifled a laugh. "Very minor."

Stiles backed the jeep out of the driveway and Sydney turned her attention to the road, gently gripping Bruin's hand in her fingers. She made a waving motion using Bruin's hand and watched the jeep, leaking fluid as it went, until she couldn't see it anymore.

"Let's go home Bruin." Sydney whispered.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _What do you guys think about Sydney and Stiles as friends? Do you like them as friends, do you hate them as friends?_**


	46. Chapter 46

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 46** **:**_

Charlie knew that Stiles and Scott had taken off, she had heard from Sydney where they had gone, but it didn't make her any less anxious to be at school without them around to support her. While they weren't in the same pack, she had always thought it was nice having Scott and Stiles around to have her back if shit ever hit the fan and she was definitely waiting for just that to happen.

But hey, if they were on their own little road trip, and she was at school by herself, that just meant she'd have to find a different ally for the day, hell it wasn't like she was the only supernatural creature at Beacon Hills high. It wasn't even that hard to track Liam and Mason down in the hallways of the school. She had Liam's scent memorized by this point in time, so much so that she would've been upset with herself if she hadn't managed to track Liam down in the next hallway.

He wasn't more than ten feet in front of her, Mason right beside him, and when she kicked her legs into high gear, she closed the distance between them, coming to a stop right behind them at the same time that the speaker in the hallway crackled and buzzed before letting out an ear-piercing ringing sound.

"Attention all students, Mr. O'Quinn's classes are canceled for today. If anyone knows his whereabouts, please let the office know immediately."

Charlie barely made the words out through the static but it didn't matter, she got the gist of it, enough to understand that shit was maybe, definitely, about to hit the fan. She had watched Mason move his hands up to cover his ears and when the voice had finished speaking, he slowly pulled them down, letting his arms hang at his sides instead.

"That doesn't sound too ominous." Mason remarked with a small smirk.

Another announcement, good lord she was growing tired of the school's horrible attempts at keeping the students calm while at the same time enlisting them to help pinpoint missing teachers or whatever the incident of the week was at the time. She rolled her eyes and carried on, squeezing herself between the two boys, looping her arm through theirs so that they formed a three person chain.

"Heard your alpha's off _sick_ today." Charlie remarked with a small grin. "Do you play by the whole 'if the alpha's away, the pups will play' rules?"

"What are you even talking about?" Liam shook his head at her and shrugged her arm away from his. Charlie leaned over towards Mason, who hadn't made a move to fluff her off at all. "Scott told me that the best way to help him was to do nothing."

"Right, and are you going to do _nothing_?" She baited him, giving a nod towards the lockers just up ahead and to the right of them. It wasn't hard to miss, in fact, she concluded that Theo was probably playing games with them for the sheer sport of it. He didn't know who he was truly messing with just yet, but Charlie knew that sooner or later, Sydney _would_ get her hands on him eventually and when she did, boy would he be sorry.

Her eyes never left Theo's form and she didn't need to look at Liam to know that he was angry, furious even, as the evil chimera stood much too close to Hayden for anyone's liking, let alone Liam's. Charlie didn't really know the girl that well but she knew enough to realize that her being on Team Theo wasn't the smartest decision she could've made. Hayden had picked the wrong side, she was on the wrong team, but who was Charlie to tell her otherwise.

Theo was way too close to her, his hand was drifting towards her lower back in a somewhat intimate manner, and she could tell simply by scent that Liam was having a hard time holding himself back from marching over to the pair and doing _something_ about Theo's infringement on what Liam probably considered his territory. Charlie couldn't imagine the sheer fury rushing through Liam's veins but for him to smell _that_ off, she knew that it was bad. Mason on the other hand seemed almost amused by the prospect of what would potentially be unfolding in front of him.

"Nothing, yeah right. Liam here doing nothing." Charlie snorted and she watched Theo leaning in closer to Hayden with that narcissistic smirk on his face. He caught Charlie's eyes but didn't hold her gaze, instead, Theo locked his stare onto Liam, silently challenging him to a contest Liam didn't really stand a chance at winning.

"You said Scott told you not to do anything." Mason reminded his pal and Charlie fought off the urge to laugh.

"I know." Liam ground the words out.

Yeah right, Liam was scrappy, he was spry, he wasn't the type of werewolf to just let something like what Theo was doing get past him. Charlie was waiting to see what he'd do.

There were a few options. Option one, he could get a running start and charge at Theo, hopefully tackling him to the ground on the first try before throwing fists and feet at the cocky chimera.

Option two, Liam could calmly walk up to Theo, wind up and sock him real good right in the jaw. Now that was a sight Charlie would've liked to see, but when Liam didn't move, she let out a whine of protest. What fun was Liam if he wasn't going to _do_ anything?

"Liam, you said you weren't going to get involved." Mason prodded

"I know." Liam's jaw clenched harder.

"I think you can take him." Charlie offered up with a shrug. "So what if he's bigger than you, you've got heart."

"Liam, don't get involved." Mason countered and shot Charlie a soft glare. She smirked back at him in response and unlinked her arm from his.

"I'll back you up." Charlie threw in. "You and I can take him."

Before Liam actually had a chance to do anything, with or without Charlie, Theo's lips turned upwards into a menacing looking smirk and he pushed himself away from the locker, leading Hayden in front of him.

As Theo passed, she heard Liam let out a low growl and without thinking, she growled along with him. Just because they weren't pack mates, didn't mean that she couldn't back him up if there was something she didn't agree with, and Theo was definitely something she didn't agree with.

"He's bad news." Mason stated, shaking his head at the two grumbling werewolves.

"He is." Charlie nodded her agreement and straightened up. She looked between the two boys and rolled her eyes. "You're boring today Liam."

"I'm just trying to help Scott." Liam muttered and took off, moving down the hall before Charlie could say another word to him. Mason offered her a shrug and then gave her a rough pat on the shoulder before he followed Liam's lead.

Once he was a good ten steps away from her, Mason paused and turned back to throw a smile in her direction. Charlie waved in response and turned to head to class, which just so happened to be in the same direction as Theo had gone seconds before.

Wandering for her first period, she slipped into the room and took her seat, glancing sideways at the very chimera in question. Theo's expression remained stony and even when she snarled at him, he barely flinched, but he did turn his head slightly to face her.

"Your pack is about as threatening as a basket full of puppies." Charlie snipped and Theo scoffed at her. "You think you're hot shit don't you."

"I think you have no idea what's really going on." Theo replied, cool as a cucumber but Charlie curled her lip back just enough to reveal her canines, which had gotten sharper and longer over the last few seconds. "Cute trick."

"Syd _will_ get her hands on you and when she does, you're going to wish that you never showed your ugly mug back in Beacon Hills." Charlie said in a low tone. She waited for Theo to respond but he didn't seem to feel like her words warranted a reply. Instead, he shook his head, shot her an amused smirk and focused his attention on the surface of the desk in front of him.

She listened to the hustle and bustle around her, watching as the teacher stepped into the room carrying a stack of papers: the class assignment. Charlie straightened up in her chair and when the teacher made it to her, setting her assignment face down on her desk, she shot a glance to the side at Theo, who was still enveloped in whatever was on the surface of his desk.

Looking past him, Charlie took in the sight of the group of empty desks where Stiles and Scott usually sat. She knew where they were, she knew what mission they were on, and she could guess that Theo probably had his theories too.

"Has anyone seen Stiles or Scott McCall?" The teacher's voice pulled Charlie back to reality and she focused on calming herself down, forcing her canines to revert back to their usual human bluntness. "Can't be the only one who thinks it's slightly coincidental they're both sick on the same day?"

The teacher continued to wander up and down the aisles, handing back assignments while Charlie looked around the room. She paused once more on Theo but he still wasn't making eye contact with her.

"Douche." She muttered and shook her head, knowing that Theo had heard her, even if he gave her no hint that he did.

"And Lydia Martin isn't in class today either." The teacher carried on without suspecting anything wrong was going on. Charlie knew better, she knew that Theo was a psychopath, she knew that he was a murderer, but he got to walk around like none of that even bothered him.

"She won't be in for a while." Theo stated calmly and everyone in the class turned towards him. Charlie narrowed her eyes in on him, fighting off the urge to flicker her golden irises at him. "Medical issues."

He finally met Charlie's gaze and when he did, he cocked his head to the side. She gripped the edge of her desk nearest him and forced her claws out the tiniest little bit, hoping by some miracle that she could make him feel even the slightest bit threatened by her. She wasn't anyone that he should take lightly, yet he had never once flinched around her.

Did he honestly thing that she wasn't a force to be reckoned with?

The scent from the hallway caught her off guard though and Charlie whipped around, reluctantly tearing her eyes away from Theo and looking directly at Malia, who was standing in the doorway. She widened her eyes at the werecoyote but Malia was looking at Theo and _only_ Theo.

"Your alpha can think what she wants to." Theo hissed at her and Charlie whipped her head back around to glare at him. She swore she saw his eyes flicker gold and that was enough to draw her own irises out but only for a split second. Just because she wanted Theo to feel even the slightest bit threatened didn't mean she wanted the entire class to think she was a freak.

Blowing her cover was a stupid move in anyone's books and she wasn't a rookie, not when it came to things like this. She was trained by someone she considered one of the best, she had sparred with the twins, who were beasts in their own rights. If Theo thought she was nothing more than a tiny, insignificant blip on his radar, then he had another thing coming.

"Watch your back." Charlie snarled in response and pulled her eyes away from Theo. When she looked back out into the hallway, she could no longer see Malia but unless her nose was failing her, she could still smell her. Malia was still waiting, for what Charlie didn't know, but she was definitely going to find out.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Class could not have gone on any longer, Charlie was antsy, rightfully so. Over the course of the hour that she had been at her desk, she had come up with a few plans of action regarding Malia. She could still smell her, and sense her, outside of the classroom door, which meant that Theo did too. Malia had come for him, she had wanted Theo's attention at the beginning of class, not Charlie's, but she had gotten both.

And Charlie wasn't about to let Malia's motives go unquestioned.

What the hell did she want with Theo? Didn't she know that he was bad, he wasn't on their team, hell, he wasn't even playing the same game? Had no one told her that, or did she just not care?

Charlie tipped her head back and stole a look at the clock ticking slowly on the wall where it was perched. She watched the second hand creeping around the circumference and as it approached the large, black number twelve at the top of the circle, she straightened up in her chair, looked down at her books, which were opened up on her desk, and made quick work of gathering them up. She wanted to make a quick getaway, she wanted to stay right behind Theo without losing him.

She had looked over at him minutes earlier and his books were already ready to go, Charlie was already faltering, but she was determined to keep up.

As soon as the bell rang, she bounced up to her feet and cut Theo right off, stepping directly in front of him. She felt him bump into her from behind but she didn't make any moves, instead, she held her ground and glanced back over her shoulder.

He had his eyes narrowed in on her but she wasn't going to bend to his will simply because he looked at her menacingly, no, she was a fighter, she was strong and smart and she could handle him, right?

"You going to move or are you going to stand there all day?" Theo asked, keeping his voice low. Charlie threw a saccharine smile on her face and cocked her head to the side as she spun around to look at him directly. Her back was to the door but she already knew that Malia was looking into the room, watching them, she could feel the werecoyote's eyes on her back.

"You're playing with fire." Charlie said gruffly. "And you know what happens when you do that, don't you?"

"I'm not playing with fire." Theo shook his head and suddenly he had that same menacing smirk toying on his lips. "I'm leaving that to someone else, someone like Parrish."

"Don't." Charlie barked and lifted a hand up, pressing her palm against Theo's chest before she even realized what she was doing. She felt her claws protruding from her fingers and when she glanced down at where she was touching him, she felt a shiver run through her spine.

All it would take to hurt him, to prove to him that she was a force to be reckoned with, was a quick jab of her razor sharp talons. She could drive the tips of her claws into his chest and do exactly what Sydney had threatened to do, yes, Charlie could easily rip Theo's heart out.

But his hand came up and his fingers wrapped around her wrist, gripping it tightly. His own claws just barely bit into her skin, but it was enough to get her to back off. She moved her hand back as he guided her arm back and when her claws were no longer against his chest, he chuckled at her.

"What's so funny?" She fired at him and Theo shook his head in pure and utter amusement. What the hell was so funny to him? She could've ended him right then and there, she was good enough to get to him, wasn't she?

"You should've done it when you had the chance." Theo purred.

Charlie's eyes widened and Theo jerked his hand to the right, snapping her wrist as he did so. She bit back a scream and tried to fight back the pain that was running up through her arm from her wrist. Theo continued to twist her cracked and broken bones in his grasp but she didn't make a sound, not even a wince.

When he finally let go of her, she sucked in a breath and held it, willing the pain to go away. He ran his finger up over her shoulder and dug the tip of his claw into the underside of her chin, forcing her to tilt her head back. She looked into his eyes and clamped her mouth shut, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had, in fact, hurt her.

"You don't get it, do you?" He challenged her but when she made no move to respond, he carried on. "It's not you against me anymore, we're all on the same side. There's something bigger out there and it's coming for us, it's coming for _all_ of us."

"And when that threat is dealt with, we'll be coming after you." Charlie ground the words out, twitching as he flicked his finger forward, nicking the skin under her chin. She immediately tilted her head sideways so that she didn't have to look at him anymore but it didn't matter, Theo had got her to do what he wanted.

She had backed down, she had given him the opportunity to pass her by and as he brushed past her, he nudged her sideways, throwing her off balance. Charlie focused her attention on her throbbing and swollen wrist, popping it back into its rightful place before she turned towards the door. When she ran her good hand up under her chin, she spotted the tiny bit of blood smeared across her skin, but she was on a mission.

She wasn't going to let him get away, broken bones or not, she was going to best Theo. She was going to get him right where she wanted him, she was going to rip his heart out, take it home and present it to her pack. Sydney would like that, no, Sydney would love that, and the twins would be so proud, but she still had to catch up.

When she rounded the corner quickly, she inhaled deeply and locked onto Theo's scent, which only served to drive her forward. She moved even faster as she tried to catch up and lock her eyes on the very man in question.

She could just barely see him as he pushed open the door to the outside, Malia right there with him, and all she needed to do was run for a few seconds longer. Neither one of the ones in front of her seemed to be in that much of a hurry, she could catch up, she _could_ and when she did, she'd put an end to whatever it was the two of them were doing together.

Malia was a good guy, she had to be a good guy. Theo didn't need any more people on his side, the town couldn't afford to lose anything more to Theo Raeken.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Charlie froze just outside of the doorway in time to not collide with Isaac. Isaac, what the hell was he doing here and why was he trying to get in her way?

"Theo's-"

"Theo's what? Being evil? Come on Charlie, you're not going after him on your own, are you?" Isaac quipped and Charlie didn't dare answer him. Instead, she looked past him and watched as Theo and Malia climbed into Theo's giant truck in the parking lot. "Charlie, you can't really be serious! You can't just _go_ after Theo."

"Isaac, get out of the way." She pleaded and when she met his eyes, she quickly added, "please."

"What are you going to do Charlie, honestly? He's a psychopath." Isaac pointed out, a little leery over the fact that Charlie was so willing to follow Theo wherever he was leading her. Didn't she see that this wasn't a good plan on her part?

"Then come with me?" Charlie countered and leveled him with a glare. The look in her eyes was almost daring him to go along with her but Isaac knew better. He wasn't a fool, he wasn't about to follow Theo Raeken, especially when he didn't trust the guy at all. "He's with Malia, I can't just let her go off alone with him."

"So you were going to what, just follow them wherever they're headed?" Isaac was trying to understand her motives but she didn't know how to explain it to him. She just knew that she wanted to follow Theo, she wanted to prove to him that he was sorely underestimating her.

"Basically. Come on, either come with me, or let me go." Charlie proposed and Isaac's eyes lingered on her body. He studied her, looking her up and down and when he spotted the swelling of her wrist, in combination with the fading bruise there from Theo's fingers, he let out a sigh of frustration.

"Did he do that?" Isaac motioned towards her injury and Charlie shrugged at him, not trusting her voice when it came to the broken bones still healing in her wrist.

"Are you coming with me, or not?" Charlie repeated her words from seconds earlier and Isaac lifted his hands into the air in defeat.

"And follow a complete psychopath Charlie? Are you kidding me? I'm not getting into trouble over this." Isaac shook his head.

"Really?"

"No. And I'm not going to let you go either." Isaac stated confidently and Charlie scowled at him. "Look, before I came here, I was talking to Syd and she said she was making roast beef for dinner, that's where I'll be Charlie, are _you_ coming or are you not."

Isaac's offer did sound pretty good, and the soft smile on his face was just icing on the cake. She wasn't stupid though, it was easy to see what he was doing, he was baiting her, hoping that he could distract her with the promise of food, _good_ food if Sydney was making it. Maybe going after Theo at that very moment wasn't a good idea.

Damn him for being right! She sucked in a breath and shook her head in disbelief. Was this what it all came down to? Was she going to give up on following Theo because Isaac had mentioned roast beef?

Maybe it wasn't the only reason she was going to go with Isaac back to her house but it was certainly up there at the top of the list. Charlie knew that following Theo wasn't the smartest idea, hell she figured that Sydney would've wanted her to go along with a fellow pack member anyways, plus, was she really that concerned with Theo and whatever it was he was doing with Malia?

She was, she would always be concerned about Theo and what he was up to, but for now, she'd leave it alone and head home. She'd get some food in her, she'd talk to Sydney about what had gone down at school and then maybe she'd see what her alpha wanted to do about it.

It wasn't worth trailing Theo on her own, that was asking for trouble and Isaac had a point. He _was_ relatively psychopathic, and she didn't want to be left alone with him, especially when she didn't know exactly what he was up to. Maybe he was leading her right into a trap, maybe that had been his plan all along.

Well, she wasn't going to go along with it, no, she was going to go home.

"Come on." Isaac urged her and extended his hand out to her. She looked down at his fingers and he wiggled them, trying to entice her to take them. She forced a smile onto her face, intertwined her fingers with his and let him lead her towards the parking lot.

They paused at the top of the steps and Isaac gently lifted her hand upwards, pressing his lips against her battered and broken wrist. Charlie held her breath and watched her veins turn black as Isaac absorbed some of the pain from Theo's wound. Without pulling away, she simply let him take as much of her pain as he wanted and when he was done, his lips moving away from her warm skin, she blew out the breath she had been holding.

Okay, so maybe following Isaac would be a _lot_ easier than following Theo, especially if he was going to do things like that; things that made her stomach do flip flops and her heart beat just that little extra bit harder. She felt sad now that he wasn't kissing her but her bones seemed to fuse together properly and he gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

"Let's…let's get going." Charlie stumbled over her words and when Isaac beamed at her, she knew she wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

Theo could wait, she had dinner to get too.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _So, was Charlie on the right page attempting to go after Theo? Do you think that either Sydney or Charlie could take him down?_**


	47. Chapter 47

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 47** **:**_

The house smelled fantastic and even if Isaac's kiss to her injury hadn't given her good vibes, she would've regretted missing a dinner such as the one that Sydney had prepared for them. The aromas were close to heavenly and when Charlie led Isaac into the kitchen, the table was spread out, an extra leaf thrown into the middle, and Chris Argent was sitting at the end with a twin on either side. Steve was holding Bruin while he sat next to Aidan, which meant that Sydney was free to cook and dish food into bowls and onto platters as she needed.

Charlie didn't say a word to anyone, instead, she took a seat next to her dad and motioned for Isaac to sit at the opposite end of the table to Chris. Everyone seemed to be in a decent mood, there were smiles on almost everyone's face, and there was no clear tension in the air, but that didn't mean there wasn't an ulterior motive to Sydney having Chris and Isaac over for dinner.

"I hope she wasn't getting into trouble when you went to pick her up." Sydney remarked and shot a knowing look in her beta's direction.

"Obviously not." Charlie scoffed but Isaac rolled his eyes at her and gripped her hand. He lifted her arm up and showed Sydney the almost completely faded bruising around her wrist and when Sydney paused in her transferring of food from the kitchen to the table, she took note that the wrist in Isaac's hold was slightly larger than usual.

"Broken bones?" Steve narrowed his eyes in on his daughter and readjusted the squirming baby in his hold. Without having to be asked, Aidan reached over and took Bruin out of the older man's grasp, allowing the good doctor to take over from Isaac. Sydney went back to carting food to them and Steve seized his opportunity, looking closely at his daughter's broken wrist. "Who did _this_ to you?"

"Theo." Isaac answered.

At the same time, Charlie huffed out, "no one."

"Theo?" Chris cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, he's one of the chimeras, kind of a douche bag." Charlie answered, not entirely sure if Chris was more confused as to who Theo was or why he would've bothered to harm Charlie. "We had a bit of a verbal disagreement in class."

"What does that mean exactly?" Sydney quipped and set the final platter on the table, this one containing the star of dinner, the very roast beef itself. Steve made a move to grab the carving knife but Chris was quicker, leaving Steve with the ability to continue to look over Charlie's war wound.

"Threats may have been made." Charlie shrugged and when her dad pressed the tips of his fingers against the bones in an attempt to realign them better, she let out a hiss of pain and glared at him. "What the hell?"

Steve shrugged off her pained protest and continued to poke and prod at her wrist, making sure that everything was the way it was supposed to be. He didn't want to have to re-break any of her bones and so far, they all seemed to be healing relatively well.

"Who threatened who?" Aidan piped up and turned Bruin around so that she was facing the table, her tiny little hands making grabbing motions at the food residing there. Before Sydney sat down though, she nabbed a bottle, full of already made formula, off the counter and sauntered over towards one half of the twins.

Sydney took Bruin out of his hold and continued on her way around the table, sitting down next to Ethan and settling Bruin into her hold so that she could easily feed her baby.

"Mostly me threatening him." Charlie muttered and pulled her hand out of her dad's grasp, finally fed up with all of his poking and prodding.

"What did you say to him?" Chris pressed, clearly interested in seeing how she and Theo interacted. Maybe he was thinking strategy, maybe he was thinking of ways to take Theo down, either way, he wanted to know what Charlie knew and she didn't blame him for that.

"I simply reminded him that Syd here was still out for his heart." Charlie supplied.

"My pugnacious little wolf." Steve shook his head with an amused smile on his face. "I don't know how I feel leaving you here after hearing that you go around threatening people like Theo."

"I can take him." Charlie protested. "I could've ripped his heart out at the end of class."

"So why didn't you?" Sydney cut in and locked her eyes on her only female beta. "I'm not accusing you or anything, I just honestly want to know what was going through your head when you decided not to go through with it?"

"Why's it matter?" Steve countered. "She doesn't have to actually _kill_ anyone, no matter who they are, or what type of threat they pose."

Sydney clamped her mouth shut and looked directly at Steve, who was directly across the table from her. She didn't know how to respond to him, she didn't know how to explain why she cared, in her head, she wanted to know what had stopped Charlie because if it was something that would cause them more harm later on, then she needed to know. If she could potentially remedy her beta's concerns, or convince her that she wasn't doing wrong by taking out a large threat, then wasn't it worth it to find out the reason why Charlie hadn't gone through with actually hurting Theo when she had the chance?

"It doesn't." Sydney shook her head, breaking her gaze on Steve. "Doesn't matter at all."

Charlie looked between her alpha and her father, wondering what had just transpired between them. Had her alpha just been taken down a peg by her father? Was that who she was supposed to be listening to? Of course she'd listen to her father, she'd always be his little girl, but Sydney was way more familiar with the supernatural, she knew what was all around them, she knew the dangers and what needed to be done to threats. But did that trump what her father wanted her to do?

It wasn't like Charlie wanted to kill Theo, she really hadn't intended to, in fact, she hadn't even wanted to get that close to him, but something had been nagging at her. Was it the way he looked at Malia standing out in the hall, or was it the way that he calmly and eerily stated that Lydia was dealing with medical issues that had set her off?

"Your daughter's eyes are still gold?" Chris voiced and watched carefully as Charlie met his gaze, forcing her eyes to flicker at him to prove that she was innocent. She hadn't harmed anyone, she hadn't ended anyone's life, she didn't deserve to be hunted according to the hunter's code. "Born or bitten?"

"Bitten." Charlie replied quickly. "By Syd's mom actually."

"Who was killed when I was a kid." Sydney added, not wanting to have to get into her past too much with one of the infamous Argents. "By the way, your sister Kate, she burned down my house not quite a year ago."

"Your house?" Chris inquired, a look of confusion etched on his face.

"This house actually…well, not _this_ house but my parents' house, the one that was here before I had to rebuild it because, like I said, your sister _burned_ it down."

"Kate acts on her own." Chris lifted a hand up and waved it dismissively. "She's no longer part of what the Argents have built up."

"And what is that exactly?" Sydney narrowed her eyes. "Because the last I heard, you had run off with the Calaveras…"

Chris shook his head at her, clearly not wanting to get into it at the table. Before anyone could speak again though, Ethan stood up and started doling out the cuts of roast beef that Chris had made. Everyone accepted their shares with an appreciative nod or smile, and once everyone had meat on their plate, the conversation picked back up, this time Isaac was talking to Charlie while Chris was trying to hold Sydney's attention, fighting with Bruin to get it.

"I'm here to make peace with you." Chris stated in a low tone. "Whatever my family did to you in the past will stay there. My wife, my _daughter_ , they both gave their lives-"

"I know." Sydney bowed her head. "I'm not here to pick fights with you, it's just hard to trust anyone who has the last name of Argent."

"Some could say it would be hard to trust a woman who has chosen to be mated to a man like Peter Hale." Chris remarked with a level gaze.

"Yeah well that was _not_ one of my finer moments." Sydney replied with a roll of her eyes. "If I were you, I wouldn't trust me either but I want us to work things out. I need you and you need me, don't you think?"

"I think that a female alpha werewolf is someone that I'd rather have on my side then working against me." Chris explained. "I heard that your mother was once a powerful alpha, if you're half the woman that she was, then you'd be thinking the same way."

"Did Gerard know my mother?" Sydney questioned and fixed him with a pointed look. "Did he have something to do with-"

"If he did, I wouldn't know. My father and I aren't exactly on the same page."

"Right." She tore her eyes away from him and peered down at her baby, who was no longer sucking on her bottle, instead, she was reaching up, trying to grab at Sydney. "You and Isaac are pretty tight then, aren't you?"

"He needed help." Chris said nonchalantly. "There's nothing more to it than that."

"But you dropped him in France." Sydney pointed out. "How did that work, did you just drop him on the street corner near the Eiffel tower and give him a baguette and a bottle of wine?"

"No." Isaac shook his head with a soft smile. "It wasn't like that."

Sydney lifted the empty baby bottle up and set it down on the table next to her own plate, she then shifted Bruin and hugged her against her chest, the little girl's chin propped against her shoulder. Charlie reached over and gave Isaac's arm a gentle pat and when he met her gaze, his smile grew wider.

Charlie considered herself lucky that she had managed to find Isaac when she did and even though their friendship had started out online, seeing him in person, meeting him face to face, was everything that she could've asked for. So far they weren't falling apart, or awkward around each other, in fact, the more time Charlie spent around Isaac, the more she _wanted_ to spend time with him.

Theo Raeken and his pack of chimeras be damned, if Charlie could survive the things that she had already managed to survive, then he'd be a walk in the park. Sydney would get her hands on him eventually and when she did, she wouldn't hesitate to end him. After that, then maybe they could all live happily ever after, Charlie could only hope.

"So kiddo," Steve broke in and turned his attention towards Charlie, "I think I've officially decided that I'm leaving here tomorrow night. Unless there's a reason that you'd want me to stay?"

"No," Charlie shook her head, "I think you'll be safer the farther away from her you get."

"I'm inclined to agree." Chris threw out.

"Okay, fair enough." Steve let out a chuckle and raised his hands in defeat. "And you're not coming with me? For sure?"

"I want to see this through." Charlie answered and stole a quick glance at Isaac before locking her attention on her dad. "My pack is here, and I want to graduate senior year. But how come you're waiting until tomorrow night?"

Steve hesitated and looked over at Sydney, who nodded for him to go on and say whatever it is that he needed to say. She knew all about his reasoning for waiting another day and she supported his decision.

"I've been trying to get a hold of my good friend Deaton," Steve started and paused, thinking carefully about the words that he wanted to use, "for a few days now. He's not answering his phone, he wasn't at the vet clinic when I dropped by, frankly I'm a little worried about him. I figured I'd give him until tomorrow night and then leave his missing status in Sydney's hands."

"Have you talked to anyone else?" Charlie leaned forward. "Have you tried to call Scott, or Deputy Parrish, maybe they have some ideas-"

"I was going to make some calls tonight." Sydney confessed. "I wanted to give Stiles and Scott some time to do whatever it is they needed to do to get Kira back, in fact, I'm hoping that Stiles will call me when they have contact with her."

"Well what about Liam, or Malia?" Charlie groaned. "The sheriff even?"

"The sheriff's in the hospital still and I can guarantee you that Liam doesn't know anything about Deaton." Sydney countered.

"What about Malia? You neglected to mention _her_."

"I don't trust her, especially if you're claiming that she went off with Theo after school." Sydney explained. "If I can't get something out of Stiles then I told your dad I'd go back to the vet clinic with him tomorrow."

Charlie bowed her head and looked down at her plateful of food. She waited for someone to say something, anything, but no one said a word. When she lifted her head back up, she looked around the table and caught Sydney smiling sadly at her.

"Things are going to be happening tonight and tomorrow that you're not going to be involved in." Sydney announced and kept her eyes on Charlie. "I don't want you to think that it's because I don't think you can handle it, okay, but I need you at school, I need you to keep an eye on Stiles and the gang and I need you to keep track of Theo. I don't, however, want you to chase down Theo, especially not on your own."

"So does that mean I have a shadow tomorrow?" Charlie's eyes seemed to light up at the prospect. "And do I get a choice as to who it is?"

"You can have a shadow if you want," Sydney chuckled, "but I was thinking more like you go to school on your own and you call one of us if you need a partner in crime. I'd prefer if it was one of the twins, or even myself, but if dinner tonight goes well, Isaac might be added to the list of potential tails."

"What?" Charlie's eyes widened even more and the grin on her face grew. "Are you serious?"

"Deadly." Steve interjected. "But if he lays a hand on you in an inappropriate manner, then he'll have hell to pay, both Chris and I can agree on that."

"Certainly." Chris nodded his agreement. "From one father to another, Isaac keeps his hands to himself, especially where the young lady is concerned."

Charlie held Sydney's gaze and together, the two of them smiled at each other, Charlie because she was happy to have Isaac in the group of people that Sydney trusted her with and Sydney because her female beta was getting a chance to do well on her own.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Bruin was tucked in her crib sleeping soundly, most of the lights on the main floor and the basement were off, except for one, the light at the base of the stairs. The only reason it was still on was because Charlie was down in the living room with her father and that was the only light that they needed because it was enough to illuminate most of the room. Sydney was in her own room, watching and waiting for Charlie to come up to bed.

She was hoping that Stiles would call her soon and the closer the time ticked to midnight, the antsier she became. It wasn't that she would be going to bed once Charlie was in her room, but knowing that Charlie was curled up under her covers trying to sleep would definitely make Sydney relax a little bit. She wasn't going to bed until she talked to Stiles though and in her head, she had made a deal with herself, if he hadn't called her, or texted her, by midnight then she'd dial up his number and pray that he answered.

Sydney dropped down to sit on the end of her bed, the lamp the only light on in her room so that Bruin wasn't bothered while she slept. With her phone clutched in her hand, Sydney hoped that Stiles and Scott were okay and that they had managed to wrangle up Kira, wherever it was that she had headed off to.

Tipping her head back, Sydney looked up at the ceiling and without thinking about it too much, she let her body collapse backwards so that she was lying face up on her bed. Still holding her phone, she blew out a low, frustrated breath and cursed Beacon Hills for being such a dangerous and unforgiving place.

When Charlie had mentioned that she had almost gone after Theo, that had struck a nerve with her. It wasn't that Sydney didn't trust Charlie, it was just that she didn't want her young female beta to have the blood on her hands. She didn't mind, she already had blood on her hands, and so did the twins, but Charlie, Charlie still had the golden irises of an innocent beta werewolf.

"Come on." Sydney mumbled to herself and rolled onto her side.

She pulled the phone away from her body and stared at the screen, willing it to ring, or chime out signaling a text message. When it did neither, she let her arm drop down to the bed and growled. She hated not knowing what Stiles was doing or if he was okay, sure he had gone with Scott but she had watched him drive away, she had witnessed the fluid leaking out of his vehicle the entire length of the road. What if something had happened to them simply because his jeep was barely being held together with duct tape and sheer force of will?

Shaking her head but settling in against the top of her covers, Sydney couldn't help but think all sorts of bad things. The last time she had gone on a road trip with Stiles, she had wound up in the middle of an extremely violent fight between Scott and Peter. Then they had to haul Peter back to Beacon Hills where a nice, comfy, cozy cell at Eichen House was waiting for him. Not only had the road trip been a disaster but it had also been the last time she had laid her eyes on Peter.

Peter, stupid Peter. She was so angry, so frustrated with his choices, but it wasn't like he was around to even get mad at. Wherever he was, he had no idea how she was feeling or what she was dealing with, _or_ that he had another daughter. Sydney rolled her eyes as far back into her head as she could, then she growled, feeling her razor sharp canines poking into her tongue. With the faint taste of blood, she fought off the urge to growl again and focused her energy on calming herself down.

She didn't need her heartrate to spike, she didn't need any of her betas to pick up on the fact that she was getting over emotional, no, this was simply anger and the sooner she could lay her eyes, and possibly her fists, on Peter, then the sooner she'd be able to get over it and move on.

Before she had a chance to consider all of the things that she wanted to do to Peter, good and bad, the phone in her hand began to ring and since she had set the volume to loud, she answered it quickly so that there was less of a chance of Bruin waking up from the noise.

"Hello?" Sydney said breathlessly into the phone, scared to death of what she would get from the other end of the line.

"Hey Syd." Stiles drawled and she took a few seconds to make some mental notes. He certainly sounded fine, he didn't seem to be panicked really and that thought alone calmed her down a few notches. She could feel the tense muscles in her body relaxing just knowing that Stiles was in a good enough condition to talk to her over the phone.

"Did you get her? Did you get Kira?" Sydney asked, her words coming out a mile a minute.

"Sure did." Stiles replied and she could picture him looking around the jeep, taking a mental head count of everyone inside. Sydney could hear that there was more than just Scott inside the vehicle, which she assumed was his jeep. It wasn't hard to make out the hushed female voice, but she wasn't about to jump to conclusions. "Picked up her mom too but that's a story for a different day. How're things there?"

"Fine, I guess." Sydney shrugged, even though she knew Stiles couldn't see her. "Steve's planning on taking off tomorrow night to head home, probably for the best, at least in Colorado he'll be safe- _ish_."

"Have you considered going with him?" Stiles said, his voice flat and emotionless but she knew that he wasn't being serious, or if he was, she would've been surprised.

"Yeah, no, I'm staying put. But the thing is, Steve was trying to get a hold of Deaton earlier and no one can get through to him."

"He took off a while ago." Scott's voice piped up from the background and Sydney narrowed her eyes in on the wall across the room. "He said he'd be back in a few days, but uh, I haven't heard from him since he left."

"And we're not worried then? Or…?" Sydney trailed off, not wanting to accuse anyone of not noticing that the supernatural vet had gone missing. She was well aware of the things that they were dealing with: Dread Doctors, chimeras and Theo Raeken, maybe the vet being gone wasn't really a cause for concern, after all, Deaton had been known to handle things himself on occasion.

"I'm not sure." Scott answered and she could hear it in his voice, she had made him worry. She had brought up the topic and now Scott wouldn't be focused on the task at hand, well, maybe that wasn't a bad thing, maybe someone _did_ need to be worried about Deaton. "I can uh, try to call him or something."

"Steve's been calling him all day today and yesterday and no answer. If we don't hear from him by tomorrow, him and I were planning on going to the clinic to check things out but if you hear from him, if you see him even, can you let us know?" Sydney was nearly pleading with the higher powers that Deaton would show up. She didn't want to think the worst but he was definitely a valuable asset and anyone who knew what he was capable of would benefit from nabbing him out from under them.

"Yeah, yeah I can do that." Scott seemed to agree with her and Sydney blew out a sigh of relief. Now she wasn't the only one worried about Deaton, she had a legitimate reason to worry. "Same goes to you."

"Of course." Sydney chirped. "So anyways, if you guys are all okay, it's getting kind of late."

"Yeah Syd, go to bed, but for your information, sleep is for the weak." Stiles jeered.

"And for new moms." Sydney fired back but followed it up with a soft snort of amusement. "I'll talk to you guys later okay and drive safe."

"Will do." Stiles said softly. "Bye Syd."

"Bye Stiles." Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and pulled the phone away from her ear. She hit the end call button and scrolled through her contacts. When she spotted the name of the one person that she had been thinking about talking to earlier, she hit the call button before she could second guess herself.

She wasn't expecting him to answer but after just one and a half rings, Derek's voice came on the line sounding tired and husky but at least she knew he was alive.

"Syd?" he sounded confused and it wasn't like she could blame him. It had been months since she had talked to him, _really_ talked to him and since she had last seen him in Mexico, she constantly wondered what he was up to or who he was with.

"I miss you Derek." She confessed and sucked in a nervous breath. She heard him let out a sigh and before she knew what was happening, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

So he wasn't Peter, that didn't matter, not at that moment, he was still her best friend, the one person that she had been friends with since she was a kid that she still cared about. She hadn't seen him since Mexico, had barely heard from him in that time, and there were so many things that she wanted to tell him, so many words she wanted to say but hadn't been able to find the courage.

"Syd, I miss you too." Derek seemed to sound sincere and Sydney let out a soft sob. She hated not being near him, not knowing what he was doing or who he was with or if he was even alive. The last time she had seen him, he had gone off with Braeden, had she been taking good care of Derek or had she moved on from him, leaving him to fend for himself. Who was she kidding, Derek could totally fend for himself, he was scrappy, resourceful and he never gave up, if anyone could survive on their own, it was him.

"I'm back in Beacon Hills." Sydney stated.

"How is it there?" Derek asked and she didn't know if he was asking just to be polite or if he honestly cared about the town.

"Pretty scary." She said and swiped at the tears cascading over her cheeks. "There's these weird Dread Doctor guys who were going around creating hybrid supernatural creatures out of teenagers."

"What?" Derek fired back at her, sounding rather surprised at her admission.

"Yeah, uh, there was a werewolf/werecoyote combo named Theo, he's sort of the leader of the chimeras, that's what they're called. And there was a werewolf/kanima mash up too."

"Syd, you're not kidding, are you?"

"Derek, I wish I was." She sighed. "Shit is hitting the fan here and I'm losing it. I don't know what I'm supposed to do or how I'm supposed to keep my pack safe."

"You'll figure it out." Derek said. "You always do."

"Yeah." She let her eyes fall shut and felt fresh, warm tears streaming over her skin. "Maybe, but it'd be really nice to have you around, even if it's just for a little while."

"Syd, I…I wish I could be there with you-"

"You could meet Bruin." Sydney cut him off and heard him make a confused noise on the other end of the call.

"Bruin?"

"Yeah and Charlie."

"Who are they?"

"Well Charlie's my beta, I picked her up in Colorado and Bruin…Bruin's my daughter."

She swore she heard something bang on Derek's end of the line, almost like he had dropped something. Well if he _had_ been holding something and she laid something like having a kid out like that, then it wouldn't really be that difficult to picture.

"Daughter." Derek echoed the word, almost like he was tasting it. "Syd-"

"You're cousin I guess, technically."

"Peter's kid?"

"Yeah." She let out a sigh. "She's pretty much a newborn, I found out I was pregnant shortly after I left Beacon Hills."

"Are you _with_ Peter?" Derek quipped.

"No." She answered honestly and her eyes popped open at the idea that maybe he knew something. "Are you?"

"No." He scoffed and she could easily picture him shaking his head at her. "I'm not with anyone actually."

"Not even Braeden?" Sydney was desperate for answers but she knew that Derek wasn't just going to let her brush Bruin's existence off like it was no big deal.

"No. Syd, I have a cousin? A _baby_ cousin? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"What was I supposed to do? I didn't want to text that sort of news to you and it's not like we have an abundance of phone calls, Derek, I didn't mean to keep this a secret, I was just waiting for the right time, except I don't think there was ever going to _be_ a right time."

"Who else knows about her then?"

"Uh well my pack, obviously, and most of Scott's pack. The sheriff and Parrish do, so does Chris Argent, oh and Isaac."

"Isaac?"

"Yeah, he came back from France."

"Wow." Derek breathed the word out and she could hear him taking in a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm she guessed. It was definitely a lot to take in but it wasn't like it was her intention to completely overwhelm him, she just wanted to talk to her friend, then everything had just come pouring out. "Okay, look, first thing's first, do you think you could send me a picture of Bruin?"

"Of course." Sydney found herself relaxing slightly. He wasn't totally furious with her, in fact, he didn't hardly sound mad at all. Maybe he understood why she hadn't told him, maybe he had bigger things to worry about, she didn't care either way. "I'll text you one as soon as I hang up."

"Good. Second thing, the last I heard from Braeden, she was heading your way, mentioned something about a lead on the Desert Wolf."

"Malia's mom." Sydney threw in.

"Yeah, I don't know exactly what her plan was so I can't tell you anything more than that, but she's not with me, not anymore."

"Okay." Sydney found herself nodding, because she didn't really know what else she _could_ do. Braeden was heading her way, she was maybe tracking the Desert Wolf, so what did that mean for Beacon Hills and was Sydney going to have to add 'defending herself against a psycho coyote' to her list of things to do? Maybe Sydney would have to contact Malia after all, no matter how much she didn't want to deal with Peter's other daughter.

"I'll start heading your way so that I can meet Bruin, how's that sound?"

"You don't have to do that."

"It'll take me a while Syd."

"Well, okay but I don't want you to feel obligated." Sydney remarked. "She's just your cousin."

"She's more than that, she's my _best_ friend's kid, I think I've been neglecting you long enough, don't you?"

"I wouldn't use the word neglect, but I guess, yeah, maybe. It _would_ be nice to see you." Sydney found herself almost smiling at the idea of seeing Derek again.

"Good. It'd be nice to see you too." She could hear the smile in Derek's voice and though she knew it would be weird, and maybe a little awkward when he did finally show up, she couldn't help but be excited at the thought of seeing Derek again. "Thanks."

"For what?" Derek asked, confusion lacing his tone.

"For answering my phone call." She murmured.

"Yeah, that's easy. You're welcome, and I promise not to be a stranger this time, okay, you can call me _any time_ you need me." Derek offered. "And I'll be there eventually to meet Bruin."

"And Charlie." Sydney added.

"Okay, and Charlie. Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about? It's kind of late there, isn't it?" Derek questioned and Sydney let out a little laugh.

Oh yes, it was pretty late in Beacon Hills but she didn't care. She had spoken to Stiles and knew he was okay, and here she was on the phone to Derek, her best friend and only link left to the Hale family that she knew she could get to. Peter was still missing in action and no matter where he was, it certainly wasn't with her, which meant the closest thing to family that Bruin, or Sydney for that matter, had was Derek.

"It is." Sydney let out a low breath. "I should sleep while I can, Bruin's been good tonight."

"Bruin." Derek whispered the little girl's name. "She sounds cute."

"She is." Sydney agreed. "I just hope that she grows up to be more like me than Peter."

"Yeah, one homicidal psychopath in the family is enough." Derek stated but she could hear the tiny bit of teasing to his tone. "Get some sleep Syd."

"Okay. Be safe Derek, wherever you are."

"I will."

"I love you, I miss you." Sydney let the words out and she knew that he knew that she really did love him, as nothing more than a friend. "I'll call you in a few days."

"I look forward to it."

She said goodbye one more time, Derek following her lead, and then she reluctantly pulled the phone away from her ear and let it drop down to the bed. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, swiped at the remaining tears threatening to spill out of her eyes and felt herself smiling. Derek was okay, he was alive and he was going to be coming to see her, to see Bruin.

So what if he had said it'd take him a while, all that mattered was that he'd get to her and she'd lay her eyes on him eventually. That was good enough for Sydney.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 _ **Bleeding Blue kunoichi: for some reason you're reviews aren't showing up, nor can I respond to them. The big thing I want to say is that I generally write along with the show but I don't post until one half of the season is done airing (at the earliest). I do, however, send scenes out if they're requested (and if they're written up to that point of course). thank you so much for the reviews! I hope that maybe you'll start to see Sydney getting back to her old ferocity soon enough and I think that Theo just assumes that she's not much of a threat simply because he doesn't really know her. In his head, if she was this big and scary alpha, then there'd probably be rumours surrounding her.**_

 _ **poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Charlie's pretty fierce in her own right ;) I think it'd be a tough battle if Theo and her ever faced off...again.**_


	48. Chapter 48

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 48** **:**_

"We've got company." Aidan announced as he stepped into the kitchen the morning after the roast beef dinner. He wandered right for the table and sat down, joining the rest of his pack, minus Sydney who was working in the kitchen making breakfast. Ethan held Bruin in his arms and alternated between holding her bottle and taking bites of his food.

"What do you mean?" Charlie questioned and smiled up at Aidan as he nabbed a slice of bacon off the plate full of it resting in the middle of the table.

"You can't hear him? Or smell him for that matter?" Aidan countered and scrunched up his nose in disappointment. He waited and watched as Charlie, and Ethan, both took a deep whiff of the air. She even went as far as to shut her eyes so that she could focus in more on her hearing.

Okay, yes, she got it now, she understand what Aidan was talking about. Isaac was on the front porch and before he had a chance to knock on the door, she rose up from her chair and took off in an attempt to answer it before he could acknowledge his own presence.

"Isaac's here early." Sydney remarked as she scraped the last bits of scrambled eggs from the pan and onto the plate. When she wandered over to the table, she set it down in front of Aidan and then headed back over to the stove to make sure that there were no burners left on. "If I was him I'd sleep in until noon."

"Well nothing's actually stopping you from doing that anyways." Ethan teased and Sydney scowled at him. "I'm just saying."

"She has a kid to look after, and a pack to keep an eye on." Aidan pointed out, trying to argue in Sydney's favour. She shot him a look of amusement before settling in to the vacant chair next to him. Ethan promptly handed Bruin over to her, as well as the bottle, and Sydney let her baby get comfortable in her grasp before offering her the formula once again.

Steve looked around at the table and as soon as Charlie reappeared in the entranceway to the kitchen, he tossed her a smile. Isaac was right behind her and that's precisely where he stayed, clearly a little intimidated by Steve's presence, not to mention the rest of the pack that would do anything to protect Charlie.

"Morning." Sydney chirped and waved Isaac forward, but he stayed exactly where he was. "Hungry? We've got lots of food."

Isaac politely shook his head no but did step out from behind Charlie, settling in to a stance beside her instead. She turned to look at him and flashed him a smile but nothing seemed to sate the worried expression that was on his face. His attention was locked on Sydney by this point and the female alpha cocked her head to the side, wondering if there was a specific reason as to why he was here at her house in the morning.

He had already turned down her offer of breakfast, so that wasn't it, but surely he could have another reason to pop by. Maybe he wanted to walk Charlie to school, maybe he wanted to talk to her about Scott or maybe-

"Chris was in the tunnels last night." Isaac spoke up, cutting into Sydney's train of thought.

"Okay?" Sydney countered, her tone laced with confusion. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine, more rattled than anything. Apparently he found a whole bunch of bodies." Isaac explained and Sydney narrowed her eyes in on him. "I think he said around twenty-five, he called the sheriff though."

"Right." Sydney nodded her understanding. "Why was he in the tunnels?"

"Looking for the Dread Doctors." Isaac answered simply. "He plans on heading back down there tonight but he wanted me to see if you'd be interested at all in joining him. He's going to have Gerard with him but he told me that he trusts you more than his own father and it might be nice to have someone else there to watch our backs in case Gerard tries to pull something."

Sydney let a few seconds of silence pass. She considered the offer and thought about what else she'd be doing that night if it weren't for Isaac's offer. Sure she could easily busy herself with things at home, but this had the potential for excitement, for purpose, and if she could help out Chris now, then he'd be more inclined to help her out in the future. She couldn't back out, she had to accept the offer, if only to solidify their truce.

"Am I invited too?" Charlie quipped with a small smirk.

"I think that's a good idea." Sydney tossed out. "I'm in, and I'm bringing Charlie. No offense but I don't want to be by myself if we're going places with the likes of Gerard."

"I'll be there too." Isaac added. "But I'm sure Charlie's welcome to join. The plan was to head down into the tunnels at dusk."

"Sounds good." Sydney nodded her head yet again but immediately set her sights on the twins. "Oh crap, Aidan, Ethan, can you babysit tonight?"

"Just an afterthought." Ethan chuckled with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, we got this, just don't get into any trouble down there."

"I'll try not to." Sydney smiled in response. "You guy are the best."

Charlie turned her attention towards her father, who had been awkwardly silent since Isaac had arrived at the house. She didn't know if there was something wrong or if he was just trying to stay quiet because he was sad that he planned on leaving for Colorado soon. It wasn't like she wanted him to remind her that he was heading home but she would've liked to have heard him say something.

"Dad?" Charlie mumbled and Steve's head jerked towards her, his lips turning up into a smile as he met his daughter's eyes. "Are you still going to leave tonight?"

"Yeah." Steve bowed his head and sucked in a breath. "But I can wait until you two get back. I still have to try and get ahold of Deaton."

"Oh yeah." Sydney sighed. "I forgot, okay, well, you try to call him and if you haven't heard from him by the time we get back, then I can head over to the clinic with you then."

"Sounds like a plan." Steve continued to smile. He looked from his daughter to the alpha werewolf across the table. Without another word, he pushed his chair back and rose up to his full height. "Have fun at school kiddo."

Without another word, Steve took off for the stairs, taking them quickly and disappearing out of the kitchen. Charlie looked at her alpha with a confused expression on her face but Sydney merely shrugged in response. Her guess was as good as Charlie's as to why Steve seemed to be a little out of it that morning. Charlie brushed it off for the time being and took a step towards the table, nabbing one more piece of bacon before turning her attention to the front door.

"Want to walk me to school?" Charlie asked and Isaac shrugged.

"You want my car?" Sydney called out to her but Charlie shook her head no.

"It's nice out today." Charlie grinned and latched her hand onto Isaac's. He didn't pull away, he barely even flinched, and with one last look in Sydney's direction, he turned towards the front door, giving her arm a gentle tug as he moved.

When the two young werewolves were out of sight, and out of hearing distance, Sydney sucked in a breath and looked towards her two remaining betas. Ethan and Aidan looked right back at her and she tilted her head to the side as Ethan lifted a hand up, signaling that he needed just a second more of her time.

"Everything okay?" Sydney pressed, pulling the bottle away from Bruin and setting it on the table. She then lifted her baby girl up, settled her against her chest so that her head was on her shoulder, and began rubbing her back in soft, soothing circles. "You two need me for something tonight?"

"No, no that's not it at all." Ethan shook his head and dropped his gaze down towards the floor. "I wanted to run something by you though."

"Yeah? What is it?" Sydney leaned in slightly, lowering her voice the tiniest little bit. "Is there something I should be worried about?"

"We aren't sure yet." Aidan stated.

"We? You're in on whatever this is too?" Sydney inquired and Aidan nodded his head with a slight smirk.

"My brother and I were talking last night, see, I was lying in bed, waiting for sleep to take over and I got this shiver that ran down my spine. My whole body tensed for a few seconds and when the chill finally went away, I was left wondering what the hell happened." Aidan carried on talking. "It reminded me of what happens to you when something happens to Stiles, you feel his pain."

"So you felt someone else's pain?" Sydney asked, more so because she wanted to understand what they were talking about but also for clarification. This was confusing, what Aidan had said was already making her edgy. She knew how weird it was for her to feel Stiles' pain every so often and now for Aidan to say that he was experiencing something similar, well that was just unheard of.

"Not exactly." Ethan spoke up, interrupting his brother's explanation. "It was more of a feeling of someone being nearby."

"So you felt another wolf, here, in Beacon Hills?" Sydney shook her head, trying to clear up the confusion. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Yeah, except it wasn't just _some_ other wolf Syd." Aidan supplied.

"Peter?" She widened her eyes in shock but both twins immediately shook their heads no. Okay, well, she couldn't say that she was surprised but part of her wanted nothing more than to lay eyes on the man who she loved. If that wasn't who they had felt, then why were the twins so on edge about telling her.

"Syd, I think Deucalion's back." Ethan said and she took in a sharp breath. Her body tensed at the mentioning of the demon wolf himself but surely they'd be okay. The last time she had seen Deucalion was in the distillery, the same night that she had lit Jennifer Blake up like a Christmas tree. They had been on decent terms, she had offered him an alliance of sorts and he hadn't exactly declined. As far as she knew, it wasn't like Deucalion had anything against her, but then again, his former pack now made up her current one.

Did that mean that he'd be territorial over Ethan and Aidan, would he try to take them back? If she refused to let him, and they refused to go, would Deucalion use force?

"I need proof." Aidan murmured. "I want to go out today and see if we can't track him down."

"Okay." She breathed the word out. "I'm not going to stop you."

"We'll be back before supper, at least that's the plan anyways." Ethan added in.

"Jesus, you two have this all rearing to go." Sydney shook her head. "What if I was opposed to the idea? Would you still go?"

"Not sure." Aidan offered with a shrug. "I didn't figure you _would've_ said no. Aren't you just as curious as we are to find out if he's here?"

She gave them one firm nod of her head and leaned her head down, pressing a gentle kiss against Bruin's head. The girl was already yawning and nearly falling asleep and Sydney knew that she agreed wholeheartedly with the twins. She wanted to know if Deucalion was back and if he was, what exactly did he want?

"You have to promise not to do anything to him, not unless he poses a threat to you, got it?" Sydney's voice was soft, her tone was laced with fear. She didn't like having people showing back up, especially people that she didn't know very well, or trust for that matter. If there was anything that would cause Bruin to be put in danger, then she'd have to seriously consider a plan of her own to eliminate that threat. No one was going to hurt her daughter, not Deucalion, not the Dread Doctors, not Gerard Argent and certainly not Bruin's very own father.

It wouldn't matter who they were, if anyone so much as looked at Bruin with a malicious look, Sydney _would_ take them down.

"Simple reconnaissance mission." Ethan agreed. "We'll stay hidden, we'll be silent, he won't even know we're looking for him if all goes according to-"

"Okay." She cut him off. "Okay but you keep your phones on you and call me if you need _anything_."

"Got it." Aidan nodded. "Thanks Syd."

"Yeah, yeah." She shook her head and looked between the boys.

She didn't know what she'd do if something happened to them and she certainly didn't want to get caught up in thinking the worst. The twins were strong, smart and skilled, they could handle this on their own and they'd show up unharmed before dinner. She was counting on it.

The alternative terrified her.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Charlie had ditched Isaac at the front door of the school and meandered inside. She was already in a pretty decent mood before seeing Isaac inside the house that morning and now that he had given her a sweet kiss on the lips as they said their goodbyes, she knew that nothing was going to get her down. Isaac was too sweet, he was too cute and no matter what happened at school, she knew that she was definitely still interested in getting to know him on a way more personal level.

Okay, she was wrong about nothing being able to ruin her mood. She'd only been away from him for a few minutes before one of the kids in the younger grade stopped right in front of her, causing her to stumble slightly before she managed to regain her balance. The kid hadn't even bothered to acknowledge her, but Charlie let her mind wander back to the kiss outside with Isaac and a smile graced her face once more, even with the irritating muffled voice sounding out over the P.A. system.

If there was one thing for sure though that Charlie knew, it was that she was getting tired of hearing the stupid announcements in the hallways as they tried to keep the teenagers of Beacon Hills high school safe. They didn't do any good, people were still getting hurt and there were still bodies being found. It wasn't like they could announce the supernatural presence though and that wasn't what Charlie really wanted, but the idea that it wasn't making a difference to anyone who was clueless still irked her every single time she heard the crackly, barely audible voice, and this time it was no different.

"By order of the Sheriff, a county-wide curfew goes into effect tonight at sundown. All after-school activities are canceled until further notice. Students should go directly home at the end of the school day." The P.A. voice sounded out in the hallway and Charlie rolled her eyes at the words that had been spewed to the students.

As if a sheriff's order would stop a teenager from doing anything, especially not when they really wanted to. Theo wasn't going to abide by the order, neither was his pack and she knew for damn sure that Scott wouldn't be paying much attention, no, he was the only real ally that the sheriff had when it came to dealing with werewolves and the supernatural threats posed to the town.

It was when she rounded the corner, barely getting her focus back from the intense eye roll at the speaker, that she spotted Stiles and Scott. She hadn't seen them the day before in school and Sydney had explained to her where they had gone. She was sort of glad that someone had the intelligence and drive to hunt down Kira, she was still part of Scott's pack after all, and Charlie was starting to believe that he, and Sydney too, were going to need all the help they could get.

"Stiles!" She called out and lifted her hand into the air. She picked up her pace but slowed right back down as she caught sight of one of the deputies wandering down the hall nearby.

He was carrying a giant weapon in his hands, and he certainly needed both to hold it up. That was huge, it was terrifying and, okay, maybe she understood how the sheriff was planning to reinforce his little announcement over the school's P.A. system. She'd be the first to comply if a deputy held a gun like the ones they were holding in her face.

"Charlie, hey!" Stiles hollered back to her and waved her forward. She peeled her eyes off of the blonde deputy and closed the distance between her and Stiles, the blonde deputy she had her eye on moved almost in sync with her.

"The hell?" Charlie hissed as she came to a stop beside Stiles, who was looking at the deputy coming their way. He looked like the same deputy that she and Sydney had met the night that they had followed Theo into the impound lot but she wasn't about to point that out, especially not considering he was holding what she could only assume was a shotgun in his hands.

"You don't think this is a bit much in terms of firepower for a high school?" Stiles questioned and the blonde guy stood in front of him, a perplexed look on his face.

"Seriously?" Charlie added in, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Your dad's the one that issued us these things, and he wouldn't officially say why." Strauss, at least that's what it said on his nametag, answered. She looked him up and down, taking in the sight of the rather attractive, sturdily built deputy standing just in front of her. Hell, if she didn't have Isaac, she might've considered throwing on the charm, or at the very least, pointing him in Sydney's direction.

"Did he say anything unofficially?" Scott countered, running his hands up and down the straps on his backpack. Charlie leaned in closer, trying not to draw too much attention to herself while at the same time being close enough to absorb any information that she could.

"No, but everyone's got a theory." Strauss remarked, focusing on Scott for the duration of his response.

"What's yours?" Stiles threw out, drawing the deputy's attention back to him.

"I shouldn't be talking to you guys. Don't you have class?" Strauss countered and Charlie scoffed. Class? Pfft, class could wait, if being a few minutes late meant that she got to hear this guy's take on what was going on in Beacon Hills, then the possible detention would be worth it.

"Not for a few minutes." Charlie tossed in with a soft smile, hoping that she could come off as innocent instead of just plain interested in what he was going to say. It _was_ true, they had a few minutes, but that didn't mean he wasn't right too. They definitely should've been on their way at least.

"Come on, Strauss, what's your theory?" Stiles prodded, hoping the deputy in front of them would answer. After hesitating for a few seconds, his heart picked up in pace, something that Charlie easily heard and shot a quick glance over to Scott, who was already looking back at her as if to say 'you hear that too'.

"Do you guys believe in the supernatural?" Strauss quipped in a low tone and Charlie cocked her head to the side.

"The supernatural?" Scott was clearly trying to play dumb and if that was his ploy, then she could definitely follow suit.

"You mean like Twilight? Vampires, werewolves, all that stuff?" Charlie commented and Strauss shook his head ever so slightly. "What _do_ you mean then?"

"Look, I've got a job to do-"

He didn't even manage to get his next sentence out before the warning bell sounded out in the hallway. Charlie fought off the urge to growl and waited as Strauss looked upwards, towards the ceiling, and let out a sigh.

"Now we have class." Stiles groaned but when Strauss went to step away from them, Stiles took a step to follow him. Scott was quick to wrap his hand around Stiles' bicep, holding him back from following the armed deputy. Charlie remained standing by and when Stiles finally calmed down, he looked in Charlie's direction and let out a sigh.

"You guys missed all the fun yesterday." She chirped.

"Fun? School's not fun." Stiles shook his head in total disbelief of her claim.

"Okay, I didn't actually mean _fun_ , but Theo and I totally got into it at the end of class." She announced and Scott took a few seconds to look her over, trying to locate any parts of her that were worse for wear. "Werewolf Scott, I'm healed now but he did break my wrist."

"He _broke_ your wrist?" Stiles' eyes widened in shock and she offered them up a shrug.

"Old news." She rolled her eyes. "Theo took off after Malia once he was done snapping my bones. I tried to go after him but Isaac got in the way."

"Isaac? Scarf boy Isaac?" Stiles countered.

"Yes."

"So you didn't actually go after Theo then?" Scott question and Charlie shook her head no.

"Like I said, Isaac intercepted me before I even got to the parking lot." Charlie explained. "I just thought I should let you know though that Theo's up to something and as of last night, it definitely involves Malia."

Scott took her words to heart and let them all sink in. She knew that the pack wasn't exactly on the best terms with the werecoyote but surely they cared that she was off gallivanting around town with the devil himself, right? Stiles let out a groan and Scott lifted his hand up, running it through his hair as he turned down the hallway.

"If Isaac's back in town, how come I haven't seen him at school?" Stiles quipped before Scott could say anything. Charlie snorted at him but threw her one hand up in the air in defeat.

"Honestly, you'd have to ask him that." Charlie answered as best as she could. "Maybe schools in France are more advanced, maybe he used all his spare time over in Europe to get is G.E.D., maybe he just doesn't want to go to Algebra class, who knows?"

"Not fair." Stiles grumbled but Charlie chuckled at him anyways. No, it certainly wasn't fair, but then again, it wasn't like she wanted Isaac's life. He didn't have any real family left and even if he was spending time with Chris Argent, it wasn't the same.

"Moving on." Charlie muttered and looked at Scott instead, anticipating him adding in his two cents. "Maybe we should focus more on Theo instead of why Isaac gets to skip out on school?"

"You're right." Scott nodded. "Who cares why he gets to miss school, we should definitely be more concerned with-"

"If I didn't have to go to class, I could focus _way_ more on Theo." Stiles cut in and Charlie fixed him with a glare. "It's true."

"I'll see you two later." Charlie shook her head with a small smile on her face. "And if I find anything out about what Theo's up to, I'll let you know."

"We'll do the same." Scott agreed and before Stiles had another chance to complain about Isaac and why he didn't have to attend class, she took off for first period.

She knew that she'd be down in the tunnels with Isaac, Sydney and the Argents later that night and she hoped that when she got home from her adventure that she'd actually have something to tell Scott. Until then, she'd try to focus on her school work, after all, supernatural presence or not, she still had to make it through senior year.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Well, things are definitely getting a little more interesting huh?_**


	49. Chapter 49

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 49** **:**_

Aidan was a good twenty feet in front of his brother but so long as he could still hear or smell Ethan, then he wasn't concerned. They had been out in the preserve for just over an hour and still there was no sign of anything except the vaguely unfamiliar scents of a myriad of supernatural beasts.

He could pinpoint a reptilian scent as well as a canine-esque scent, but he couldn't lock onto one specific scent. It was almost as though the things that he could smell were more than just one breed of creature, which only served to remind Aidan that whatever they were dealing with was much bigger than them.

He had heard talk of the chimeras, had even seen the very Theo Raeken in all of his glory, but that was completely different than locking on to the numerous other scents littering the preserve. It was almost overwhelming but it definitely worked in their favour. If they were having this much trouble trying to track down Deucalion, Aidan couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it was for the formerly blind alpha. At least Aidan was aware of what chimeras were, Deucalion would have enough trouble trying to figure that one out.

Slowing down in the forest, Aidan stole a quick glance back and caught sight of his brother in his peripherals. Ethan had also slowed down but he was focused in on something on the ground, something that Aidan had missed apparently. Without hesitating, Aidan retreated back to where his brother was and when he came up next to him, he immediately spotted the subject of interest.

"They could be Theo's, or one of his packs." Aidan said in a hushed whisper as he took in the sight of the footprints. They looked rather large though, which Aidan could conclude meant they belonged to a male, so if the tracks did belong to one of Theo's pack, he could eliminate the two females that he had with him.

"It doesn't smell like anything _but_ a werewolf though." Ethan countered and crouched down. He ran his finger along the edge of the groove marking a heel print in the ground. When he lifted his finger up, he held it below his nostril and took a sniff, trying to figure out if it smelled familiar or not. There were still far too many scents floating in the air around them. "It _could_ be Deucalion."

Aidan dropped down to a squat next to his brother and planted his hands on the ground on either side of the trail of tracks. He leaned forward and nearly pressed his nose into the impression itself but stopped a few inches away. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on the scent in front of him, hoping that he could ignore the rest of the faint odours in the preserve. When he opened his eyes, he looked upwards and followed the tracks with his eyes.

Ethan twisted sideways and caught the glowing blue of Aidan's irises, something having struck a nerve with his twin.

"Who do you think it is?" Ethan questioned, his voice barely audible.

"I think it's Deucalion." Aidan answered, matching his tone with his brother. "But until I see him with my own eyes, I don't want to jump to any conclusions."

"Agreed, so, we follow it?"

"Lead the way." Aidan waved his hand in front of him as he rose up to his full height, quickly falling in line behind Ethan.

The two of them continued to follow the tracks, occasionally pausing to look left and right to make sure that there were no threats hiding amoungst the trees. Aidan also peered back behind him, making sure that nothing could surprise them from that direction while Ethan focused his attention on what was in front of them. They continued to follow the tracks and it wasn't until they reached a small stream flowing through the forest that either of them stopped.

Aidan backed away from the water and ducked down behind a wide tree trunk, Ethan following his lead. Together, the two of them peered around the tree and tried to figure out which direction to go in seeing as the tracks faded away the closer to the stream they got. Which way would this werewolf go?

"They walked in the water." Ethan pointed out in a whisper. "It would cover their tracks and dilute their scent."

"But is it diluted enough to throw us off completely?" Aidan quipped and scanned their surroundings, looking for any obvious and imminent threats. When he was satisfied that there were none nearby, he stepped out from behind the tree and closed in on the river, crouching down so that he was closer to the ground. Ethan stepped around the tree too but he kept his back against it while he acted as a lookout.

Aidan wandered along the side of the stream away from Ethan, inhaling the air every step before he came to a stop and turned around, doing the exact same thing in the opposite direction. Once he was about the same distance in the other direction, Aidan stopped and looked over to his brother.

"Just throwing this out there but should we maybe consider the tiniest possibility that this scent we're tracking belongs to Peter?" Ethan suggested and Aidan let out a sharp snort before shaking his head no. "Well why not?"

"Syd and Peter are mated, if this was Peter we were tracking, we'd _know_ , it'd have traces of her scent in it." Aidan answered as if it were the simplest solution.

"Okay, fair point, but what if he somehow managed to break their mated bond?" Ethan countered with a smug look on his face.

"Still no." Aidan answered without skipping a beat.

"Really?"

"Bruin." Aidan tossed the baby's name out and Ethan let out a growl for not realizing it sooner. If there were tracking Peter, by some small miracle, and even if he had managed to somehow break his mated bond, his scent would still have traces of Bruin in it.

Ethan knew Bruin's scent by heart having spent enough time with the baby girl day in and day out. His brother was right, there was no way that the scent they were tracking was Peter Hale's, unless-

"What if the Dread Doctors got to him though?" Ethan barked.

"I guess maybe but they make chimeras, that's more than one scent, and like _you_ said earlier, this is purely werewolf."

Ethan raised his hands in surrender and let out a soft, frustrated growl, "then which way did they go?"

A smile crossed Aidan's features and without another word to his brother, he took off in the direction that he was already heading. The werewolf they were tracking was clearly banking on anyone following him to have poor skills when it came to scents but Aidan and Ethan weren't new to the werewolf game. They were experienced, former alphas even, and just because the person they were tracking had walked in the water, didn't mean they were going to lose the twins.

Maybe the chimeras weren't that adept, but Aidan and Ethan knew better than some barely put together hybrids.

A silence fell over them and Ethan came up the rear this time, letting his brother lead them as they continued to try and hunt down whoever the faint scent belonged to. When the two of them approached a bridge over the stream in the distance, they took a few steps away from the running water and paused, looking for any threats or obstacles at the structure.

Aidan threw his arm out and held his brother back but he moved closer to the bridge in silence. When he was within thirty yards of the wooden walkway, he waved Ethan forward and listened carefully but heard nothing as his brother closed the distance between them.

"What does that look like to you?"

Without answering, Ethan took a step closer to the bridge and watched as a teenaged girl sauntered across to the opposite side of the stream to them. He continued watching as a couple teenaged boys followed her lead.

"Can you smell that?" Ethan hissed and sidestepped towards the thicker brush a few feet away from them. Aidan followed him closely and once they were hidden behind the branches, that's when they finally laid eyes on the very man that had ruined them.

Aidan stood frozen in the brush next to his unmoving brother as they watched Theo's pack of Chimeras try and nearly fail to get an advantage over Deucalion, the one and only Demon Wolf.

He might've stood a chance but there were more of them and they weren't giving up. It was a hard fought battle for their former leader but in the end, he had been brought down a few pegs.

"We need to tell Syd." Ethan remarked and continued to watch as the pack of chimeras surrounded the fallen Deucalion, each of them grabbing a limb before hauling him off the ground. "What the hell would Theo want with _him_?"

"I don't know but I'm going to find out."

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

The tunnels were super creepy and the last time Sydney could recall being on edge this bad was probably when she had been dealing with her heat. Peter hadn't been the most understanding, and she had ventured out into the sewers with him while she had wanted nothing more than to roll around in bed with him, but she had accounted her edginess at that time to the fact that she was dealing with her estrous cycle.

This was a totally different feeling of dread.

There were funky smells coming from every direction and she knew that one of those funky smells was wafting off of Gerard, but she wasn't about to voice her objections to being near the Argents. Chris was doing a decent job at leading them to wherever it was he wanted to find and Sydney wasn't going to get in his way. She'd merely make sure that Charlie was unharmed throughout the entire journey in the eerie, dark, dank, stinky tunnels.

When Chris rounded a corner and came to a stop though, Sydney seized the opportunity and took in a deep breath of the air around them. She could pinpoint Charlie's scent, as well as Isaac's, Chris' and Gerard's but there were a couple other familiar scents lingering around her too. Was that…no, no way, what were Scott and Liam doing down in the tunnels too?

Maybe they were doing the same thing as she was, maybe they were looking for something, anything, that might help them defeat the Dread Doctors.

Instead of breaking the silence, Sydney looked at Charlie and caught the amused look in her eyes, okay, so Charlie could smell them too, that was a good sign, at least Sydney wasn't going crazy, although she wasn't sure if there was a better reason as to why she was currently underground with two Argents and none other than Isaac Lahey.

Had she lost her mind after all? It wasn't like she had too much to base her sanity on anyways, she _had_ thought that being mated to Peter Hale was a good thing and now she was kicking herself almost daily.

"We're nearly there." Chris whispered and waved them all forward, Sydney taking a few more strides than the rest of the ones behind her so that she was walking next to Chris. Gerard was right in front of them but when they approached a large, metal door tucked away in the corner of the tunnel, he froze in his movements.

"Can you hear anything?" Gerard questioned slowly and Sydney squeezed her eyes shut, trying to pinpoint any foreign sounds that might pose a threat to them. When she heard nothing more than the typical noises from the people she was with, she shook her head no.

"I think whatever's behind that door is clear." Sydney said firmly.

"I agree." Charlie piped up from the end of the line. "All I can hear is us."

Gerard took their statements as permission to open the door in front of him. He drew his gun, Chris doing the same, and hesitantly stepped inside. Sydney forced her claws out and when she glanced back at her beta, she spotted Charlie following her lead. One by one they all entered the room and once Isaac was inside, Sydney turned back to the door and gingerly shut it behind them. She didn't want any threats getting in the same way that they did and she certainly didn't want them surprising her if they did show up.

She leaned her back against the door and looked around the room, taking in the sights, scents and sounds that remained lingering in the air. She could faintly smell blood but it was old and stale, which meant that whoever it belonged to was already hurt. There was nothing more she could do for them, not unless she managed to catch a fresh scent of course.

"Where are we?" Charlie asked in a hushed tone and Chris took one hard look around the room before holstering his weapon. Gerard repeated the motions and once his gun was tucked away, he ventured off into the darker part of the room.

"Look." Isaac hissed and waved his hand in the direction of a pile of debris on the floor. Charlie followed his motion, as did Sydney and Chris, and the four of them looked up at a giant mural painted on the wall behind the actual wall of the room itself. She took a step towards it and studied it carefully but before she could ask questions of her own, she froze and focused her ears in on the faint noises coming from outside.

Sydney could hear them before she saw them and when the doorway behind her popped open again, she figured that Scott would be surprised to see her, unless he had managed to pick up her scent. She didn't figure he had been looking for anything like that though, if he was in the tunnels, then that meant he was looking for something else.

She heard Chris' gun cocking too, and when she turned her attention towards the hunter, she took note that he wasn't messing around. Seeing him standing there, his gun aimed directly at the two werewolves making their way into the room, Sydney briefly felt a little embarrassed for not informing him that she could not only hear Scott and Liam but she had smelled them practically the very second that she had gotten into the tunnels.

Right, Chris wasn't like her, or Charlie for that matter, he clearly had no idea if the people making the noises were friend or foe, so goes the life of not having super hearing. Then again, it wasn't like Isaac had put in any effort to inform Chris that they had company in the tunnels, and it didn't take an experienced werewolf to pick up on Scott's presence. Making a mental note to let Chris know what she heard or saw in the future, Sydney shook her head and focused her attention back to the task at hand.

Scott glanced quickly at her but he seemed to lock his eyes on the older Argent, Gerard, the very snake within the hunter family, and she could sense his apprehension towards the man simply because she could smell his scent changing slightly. Scott was just as surprised to see Gerard with Chris as she had been, but hey, Gerard wasn't really a threat, not to her anyways, not when she considered the fact that there were so-called Dread Doctors running loose in Beacon Hills with an evil plan of their own that Sydney wanted to thwart.

Without question, Chris lowered his gun away from Scott and quickly tucked it back under his jacket, where it would remain until another potential threat presented itself. Sydney closed in on Charlie and made sure to stay nearby in case anyone tried to pull a fast one on her, Gerard may not have been much of a threat to Sydney but she figured that Charlie would make an easy target for the crooked old man.

"You didn't." Scott quipped, looking directly at Gerard as an expression of disbelief took up residence on his face.

"I had to." Chris argued calmly and Gerard took a step closer to Scott, revealing himself in all of his ancient glory. Sydney shook her head and resisted the urge to growl at Gerard herself, he was not trustworthy but she understood the idea of necessary evil. If Chris thought that he needed his father's help, then she wasn't about to argue.

"Old news." Sydney muttered and Charlie looked over at her alpha with a knowing look on her face. She watched Scott though and when he brought out his vibrant red alpha eyes, Sydney was tempted to follow his lead, making sure that Gerard _knew_ who he was messing with.

"Hello, Scott. I haven't seen that color on you. It suits you." Gerard remarked with a malicious smirk. Scott blinked his eyes and when he looked back at Gerard, his irises were their usual colour.

"Who's the old guy?" Liam voiced and Sydney couldn't help but smile at the little beta's curiosity. Good, Liam was catching on.

"At the moment they would call me a necessary evil, but you can call me Gerard." Gerard countered, looking between Chris and Scott. Sydney kept Charlie, and now Isaac, behind her, staying in the front line in order to protect her beta and keep her safe. It was her job as the alpha and while she trusted Chris, she definitely didn't trust Gerard, no matter how necessary he was to the plan.

"What were you thinking?" Scott accused.

"Back up a second there young guns." Sydney raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. "If Chris here says that we need him, then I think we should maybe listen to him."

"Is that what you think? Do we really need him?" Scott asked, but there was more anger in his tone than questioning. Whatever Scott's plan was, it didn't seem to involve Gerard, and Sydney couldn't really fault him for that sort of thinking.

"I do, I believe that we need him." Chris answered calmly, coolly and Sydney couldn't help but wait anxiously for more information from the two Argents. This was what they needed, they needed theories, they needed information, and if being in some dark and dingy tunnel with Chris and his untrustworthy father was the way to get it, then Sydney was all in, she just wasn't going to be all in all by herself.

"Common enemy, right?" Sydney supplied with a brief shrug. She was trying to make her own point, she knew that there was something bigger out there waiting for them, she knew that they were going to need all the firepower they could get their hands on, and if Gerard happened to get caught in the crossfire and become a casualty of the beast, then it would be a win-win situation for them all, right?

"He's right. If you want to catch a werewolf like the Beast of Gevaudan, you're going to need more than one Argent." Gerard explained cryptically.

"He knows all the stories, all the folklore; everything written and everything passed down." Chris explained and Sydney rolled her eyes.

She could certainly get the twins to start googling this so called beast, it wasn't like the people on the internet weren't full of theories on different supernatural creatures, but having an Argent who knew first hand things, well that would certainly be a good asset to have, she just wished that she felt less uneasy when it came to Gerard.

He had been the father to the woman who had burned her house to the ground, the same woman who had lit the Hale house up with the entire family, save for a couple of them, locked inside to die by the heat of the flames. When it came to Gerard and Kate, part of Sydney would've rather seen them both dead by her hands, but his execution could wait until this so called beast was taken care of.

"You sure about this?" Scott pressed, clearly still skeptical over Gerard's presence.

"Take a look." Chris instructed and turned towards the mural painted on the wall behind him. There were two black beasts facing off against one another in worn out brushstrokes, but the picture was still very, very clear and Chris knew exactly what it represented. "The one on the right is the Beast of Gevaudan. Do you know what the other one is?"

"With any luck it's the ultimate supernatural warrior." Sydney said in a low tone, trying and failing to make light of the situation.

"And hopefully it's invincible." Charlie added, her tone equally as low. Isaac looked between the two girls and shook his head, but the smirk on his face said it all; he wouldn't have been too upset if they were actually right about the beast on the left.

"The Hellhound, the guardian of supernatural places. They're both creatures of the night, but you may know them as ordinary people during the day." Gerard answered after a few beats of silence.

"And most likely neither of them know what they are." Chris added in sadly. He held Scott's gaze but the true alpha was looking over at Liam, which immediately set Chris on edge. "What is it?"

"We found a message in Latin: 'Damnatio Memoriae'." Scott answered genuinely and suddenly the two Argents were looking at one another, knowing looks on their faces.

"What the hell does that mean?" Sydney hissed and took a step closer to the wall, yet she was still a good ten feet away from it. "Translation please?"

"They want it to remember itself." Gerard announced and Sydney bit back a growl of frustration. Okay, so she was going to have to look up the phrase on google when she got home, she just hoped that she could remember it, or at the very least, that Charlie had been paying attention when Scott said it the first time.

"That might give us time." Chris murmured, looking away from his father.

"Time for what?" Liam barked out quickly.

"To prevent this." Chris replied and sauntered over to the mural on the wall. Sydney watched his every movement and even when Charlie slipped her hand into hers, she didn't flinch, she remained standing exactly where she was as Chris pressed his palms against the painted beasts. He raised his one foot off the ground and went to town on the remnants of the wall near the floor, the stone wall cracking into pieces and falling to the concrete floor below.

Sydney furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion and took in the sight of the mural that hadn't been revealed to them before. Was that…were those bodies littered underneath the battling black beasts depicted on the wall? Dead bodies even?

Chris took a few steps back, allowing them all a clearer view of the mural. It was unmistakable at this point, they were certainly bodies, piled high and clearly not of very lively people at all.

There were wounds on each and every visible limb of the people in the painting and blood leaking from their injured skin, but were her eyes deceiving her? Those couldn't possibly be what she thought they were.

"Holy hell." Charlie sucked in a breath and made a move to step closer to the wall but Sydney tightened her grip on Charlie's hand and held her in place next to her.

"Who are they?" Liam asked the question on everyone's mind. Okay, so he certainly thought they looked like bodies too, but maybe there was a reasonable explanation, maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed?

Who was Sydney kidding, this was Beacon Hills and things were never that easy.

"Us. It's all of us." Scott answered breathlessly, his eyes never leaving the mural.

"No." Charlie protested and moved closer to Sydney, wrapping her arms around her alpha's middle. "None of those look like me."

"Yeah, I know." Sydney murmured and ran her hand up and down Charlie's back in an attempt to soothe her. "None of them look like me either but that doesn't mean it's not going to happen."

"Is this why you and dad wondered if I wanted to go back to Colorado with him? Did you know this was coming?" Charlie pressed but Sydney shook her head no.

"I knew bad things were going to happen but I had no idea about this. If you want to leave with your dad though, obviously I wouldn't be upset." Sydney replied in a low tone. "This shit is terrifying."

"Yeah, but I still think I want to stay." Charlie whimpered. "If we can stop this thing, if we have a chance to take it down, we're going to need all the help we can get, right?"

Sydney tilted her head to the side and considered Charlie's statement. She was absolutely right, they were going to need as many people on their side as possible, but that didn't change the fact that whatever was going to happen was absolutely horrific. Maybe they'd be able to band together and stop this Beast, or maybe they'd figure out a way to defeat it, that didn't mean that more people weren't going to die and in the end, maybe it'd all be for nothing.

"Chris?" Sydney called out to him and he glanced over his shoulder at her, giving her a nod to go on now that she had his attention. "Can we stop this thing?"

"My family did it once before." Chris answered softly.

"Can you do it again?" Sydney quipped.

"We all better start praying." He stated firmly. "This beast isn't going to go down without one hell of a fight."

Charlie's fingers pressed into Sydney's sides the slightest little bit, drawing her alpha's attention down towards her. Sydney met Charlie's eyes and forced her vibrant red irises to the surface, Charlie countering by bringing out the gold colour in hers.

"We got this." Charlie sighed.

"We don't have any other choice." Sydney countered and silently prayed that her pack would all make it out alive.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _So it seems that maybe Deucalion is in Sydney's pack's sights...what do you think about that?_**


	50. Chapter 50

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 50** **:**_

There hadn't been enough time for the twins to relay to Sydney what they had witnessed before she had to take off with Charlie to meet up with the Argents. Nonetheless, the scene that Aidan had watched unfold in front of him at the bridge within the preserve hadn't left his mind and it wasn't until Sydney wandered back into the house with Charlie by her side, that he spoke a word about it to anyone.

"How were the tunnels?" Aidan asked as he rose up from the couch in the living room, heading for the front door to greet his female pack mates. "Did you find what you were looking for?

"I don't know." Sydney answered with a slight shrug. She flipped her arms back and let her leather jacket fall off her body, catching it before it had a chance to drop to the ground. She held it in her hand and made quick work of hanging it up at the front door. "Definitely learned a lot."

"Like what?"

"Like that we're all pretty much destined to be killed by the random beast running around Beacon Hills." Charlie supplied, looking around the main floor of the house with the hopes of locating her father. She didn't see him anywhere, nor did she see Ethan, and at the sight of only Aidan, she cocked her head sideways and lifted her arms up as if to say 'where's everyone else'.

Aidan peered around and looked behind him, furrowing his eyebrows before looking right back at Charlie.

"Your dad's upstairs." He said calmly. "He went up there with Bruin a little bit ago to see if she'd calm down enough to nap."

"Then that's where I'll be heading." Sydney announced and made a move to brush past her two betas. Aidan lifted a hand up and gently gripped her bicep, stopping her dead in her tracks. Sydney looked down at where he was gripping her, then she brought her eyes up to meet his, only she had brought out her alpha irises. "What?"

"We need to talk." Aidan said lowly and Charlie gave Sydney a pat on the back before taking off in a jog for the stairs. Aidan didn't say anything, nor did he peel his hand away from her, until Charlie was in the upstairs hallway and he heard her greet her father.

"This better be important." Sydney grumbled but by the lack of smile on Aidan's face, she knew that he was deadly serious. Whatever he needed to say to her wasn't going to be anything she should've been taking lightly.

"Trust me, you'll want to hear this." Aidan remarked and tugged gently on her arm, ushering her forward so that she was heading for the living room. He followed closely behind her and when they reached the couch, she let out a sigh and flopped down, Aidan dropping onto the cushion next to her and twisting his body in her direction.

She relaxed into the back of the couch but her eyes never left his. Whatever he needed to talk to her about, she wasn't going to fluff off. There were rare occurrences when Aidan knew how to be serious and this was apparently one of them. Apparently when he had gone in search of Deucalion, he had seen, or sensed, something that he deemed relevant to her pack.

"Spit it out." She murmured and reached a hand over, setting her palm on his knee. Aidan shifted away from her touch though and sucked in a breath. She narrowed her eyes in on him and waited patiently for him to get to it, he had something to tell her and she had a limited amount of time to listen. She still had to take Steve to the vet clinic before he took off for home and she knew that the sooner Aidan said his peace, then the sooner she could grab Steve and head out.

"We found Deucalion." Aidan confessed and Sydney poked his thigh, signaling for him to keep talking. "We tracked him through the preserve and we managed to locate him at the bridge over the stream but we weren't the only ones that spotted him."

"What do you _mean_?" Sydney hissed. "Who else would even know about him?"

"Theo's pack of chimeras attacked him, they all went at him at once and I guess there were just too many of them for Deucalion to fight off…they brought him down, they took him away." Aidan continued and Sydney let a small growl escape her. "Ethan and I didn't follow them, honestly I don't think it would be that hard to pick up their scents from the bridge if you wanted us to-"

"Nope." Sydney raised her hand up, cutting him off as she did so. "I want you and Ethan to be smart about this. I want you two to stay alive and until we know more about whatever the hell Theo's planning then you and your brother aren't going to be tracking any chimeras anywhere."

"Got it." Aidan nodded and even though he was the tiniest little bit exasperated by her demands, he also knew that she had a point. They were a pack, they had to stick together, and so long as no one was directly threatening them, then they weren't going to go around poking any bears with any sticks. This was a sleeping dog that would be better off left alone. "I just thought you should know that though, that Theo has Deucalion, or if he managed to get away after we left, that Theo _wants_ Deucalion."

"Don't we all." Sydney responded with a heavy sigh. "Thanks, you did good today."

"It was nothing, I should be thanking you for letting us go."

"You don't actually _need_ my permission, you know that right?" Sydney quipped and tipped her head to the side.

"You're my alpha, I do what you tell me to do. I'd rather ask for permission than have you get mad at me for something that you didn't really want me to do." Aidan explained and offered her a small smirk. "I've seen you mad before, I don't want to ever have that anger directed at me, or my brother for that matter."

Sydney snorted at him but didn't say a word. She gave his knee a rough pat and stood up, wandering around to the back of the couch where she paused and ran her fingers through Aidan's hair. He tipped his head back and met her eyes, smiling lazily at her as she repeated the motions a few more times before finally pulling away from him completely and making her way to the stairs.

When she reached the bottom step, she glanced back over at Aidan and couldn't help but smile at him still sitting on the couch, only now he had a book open on his lap. Whether he was reading for fun, or researching to help the pack, she didn't care, he was her beta, loyal and true, and she wouldn't trade him for anything.

Tearing her eyes off of one half of the double mint twins, Sydney made quick work of ascending the stairs and when she reached the top, she paused and listened in on Charlie talking in hushed tones with her dad. She knew that he was planning to leave that night, but it didn't make it any easier on her youngest beta and even if Charlie didn't want to go with him, she knew that she'd miss her dad once he was gone. If losing her parents had taught her anything, it was that not having a loving parental figure around always sucked, no matter how much fun a person could claim to be having.

Charlie's voice ceased and Sydney took that as a signal that she was done talking to her dad. Sydney figured that Charlie had picked up on the fact that she was on the second floor with them and when a laugh erupted from Steve, who was tucked away in her room, Sydney surged forward. She rounded the corner and stepped into her bedroom, looking at the father/daughter duo sitting comfortably in her pillows.

A smile spread over her face and she stole a quick glance over to Bruin's crib, where her baby girl was settled in but not yet asleep. Sydney sauntered in and climbed up onto her bed, walking up the length of it before taking a seat next to Charlie, sandwiching her against her dad.

"What'd Aidan want?" Charlie asked and let out a soft sigh. It was getting late and Sydney figured that the younger girl would be tired, especially after their adventure into the tunnels. She just hoped that Charlie would sleep soundly that night and not suffer from nightmares containing the things that they had to deal with while they were all awake. "To profess his undying love for you?"

"Ha ha." Sydney mimicked sarcastically and shook her head no. "He wanted to talk to me about his attempts at tracking down Deucalion today."

"Attempts? Does that mean he didn't actually do it?" Charlie tilted her head sideways and let her forehead rest against Steve's shoulder.

"Well no, him and Ethan managed to track Deucalion down but Theo's pack got to him." Sydney tried to explain and Charlie popped back up into an upright position. Clearly she was interested in what Sydney had to say. "I guess Theo wants him for something, honestly I have no idea what though. If you have any theories, I'm all ears."

"I have no idea." Charlie sighed and Steve gave her knee a reassuring pat.

"I'm sure you girls will figure it out." He added in quickly and Sydney fought off the urge to huff.

She was tired of having to figure things out, she just wanted straight answers. She wanted to wake up in the morning with a cut and dry mission to get to and if that meant she'd have to end a life, then so be it, so long as the life that needed to be ended was on the bad side. Sydney was tired of all the unknowns, she just wanted Theo's plan to be revealed, she wanted a way to defeat the Dread Doctors and a method to either help or end the new threat in the form of the beast.

She didn't want to sit around coming up with theories or potential solutions, she just wanted to do something.

"You hear from Deaton yet?" Sydney asked, changing the subject before Steve and Charlie could continue with the topic at hand. "Does he know we're coming or is this visit tonight going to be more of a break and enter type deal?"

"I haven't heard from him." Steve answered with a saddened shake of his head. "I'm hoping that doesn't mean anything bad."

"Well this _is_ Beacon Hills we're talking about." Charlie jeered. "I think at this point you can _count_ on that meaning something bad."

Steve shook his head at her but didn't bother responding. He wasn't going to deny it, Charlie had a point, they weren't in Colorado where bad things happened less than in Beacon Hills, they weren't anywhere near Colorado and ever since he had arrived at Sydney's house, bad things had continued _to_ happen. They weren't going to catch a break simply because Steve hoped that bad things didn't happen.

"I'm taking Bruin." Sydney whispered and Charlie jerked her head around to look at her. "I figure if something's awry, then I'll be able to sense it before we actually get inside. Best case scenario, he's fine and he gets to meet Bruin, worst case scenario, Steve stays in the car with her while I fight off whatever's gunning for us."

"That doesn't sound like a very good plan." Charlie mumbled.

"Well it's the best I've got." Sydney shrugged in response. "Come on Steve, let me get my baby girl ready to go and then we can head out. How's that sound?"

"Dad!" Charlie barked and he looked over at her. "You're okay with this plan?"

"Charlie, have a little faith, I'm not totally defenseless when it comes to the supernatural, plus Syd's as fierce as they come. If anything seems out of place, we'll call for backup, does that make you feel better?" Steve countered.

"I guess."

"Good." Steve's eyes widened at her, daring her to say another word. "We shouldn't be long."

"Okay." Charlie rolled her eyes, wondering what exactly her dad and her alpha were getting themselves into.

No one said another word though as Steve climbed off the bed and headed back down the stairs to get himself ready. Charlie stayed sitting on the bed while Sydney made her way over to the crib, lifting Bruin up and pressing a kiss against the top of her head. She simply watched her alpha getting Bruin ready to go without saying another word in objection.

She just hoped that they knew what they were doing.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Nothing had seemed off when Sydney arrived at Deaton's vet clinic, in fact, she could smell Scott, who she had seen not too long ago in the tunnels. If he was here, then that had to mean they'd be okay.

Steve knocked on the back door and when Scott poked his head out, he forced a smile in Sydney's direction, Bruin was safely tucked into her car seat, which was dangling from Sydney's hand at her side. Quickly, and without a word, Scott stepped out of the way and waved them forward, waiting until both Sydney and Steve were securely inside before he pulled the door shut behind them.

"He's in the back room." Scott directed them and Sydney led Steve through the narrow hallway until she could hear the man in question.

When the two of them walked into the room where Deaton stood hovering over a laying down Malia, they remained quiet. Sydney looked back behind her, searching for Scott, but he was busy doing something else. She knew he was still around because she could still smell him, and hear him, but she couldn't see him. Oh well, Scott wasn't a threat to her, or Steve for that matter, and it wasn't like he didn't have other stuff of his own to do.

"What happened to her?" Steve was the first one to break the silence and as he watched his good friend treating a rough looking wound on Malia's side, he studied the girl on the table too. She wasn't moving around that much but every so often, when Deaton would put pressure on the injury, she'd let out a pained grunt, yet no words came out of her mouth.

"She was shot." Deaton answered calmly and turned his head to face Steve with a polite smile. "Nice to see you Steve. I see you've brought friends."

"You know Syd." Steve replied but looked down into the car seat still within Sydney's grasp. "This is her daughter Bruin."

"Daughter?" Malia lifted her head up and looked right at Sydney, who held the young werecoyotes eyes before flashing her a small smile of her own.

"I didn't know _you'd_ be here." Sydney retorted and Malia dropped her head back down to the table, letting Deaton continue to treat her wound. "Since you are though, who shot you?"

"Theo." Malia answered quickly.

"Theo shot you?" Sydney narrowed her eyes in on the girl and wandered around the table. She hauled Bruin's car seat up and gently placed it on the counter along the wall, then she took a step closer to Malia and looked down at her, meeting her glowing blue eyes. Sydney matched her with her red irises and when Malia let out a hiss of pain, Sydney made note that her eyes reverted back to their usual colour.

"I needed his help, apparently I should've gotten someone else." Malia admitted with a frustrated tone.

"Help with what?" Sydney found herself asking before she had a chance to really wonder how much she wanted to do with Malia. It was too late though, she had already asked the question and now she seemed interested. Well, in all honesty, Sydney didn't know that she wasn't interested. Whatever Malia had been up to before seeking out the clinic was clearly dangerous and she had apparently needed Theo's help…Sydney didn't particularly _like_ Malia but that didn't mean seeing her in pain was something she enjoyed.

"I was trying to find my mother." Malia answered honestly.

"Why?" Sydney fired back and she felt her heart start to pick up in pace. Malia's mom, Peter's lover at one time, no, no she already didn't like where this was going. If Malia was trying to find her mother, then what did that mean for Sydney?

"So that I could kill her." Malia said in a low voice and Sydney listened for anything to signal that Malia was lying to her. Wait, why would Malia want her mother dead though? If Sydney was in her position, surely she'd be seeking out her mother in order to get to know her, maybe get some answers to questions, but definitely not kill her.

"You were trying to find your mom so that you could kill her and the best option that you could come up with to help you was Theo?" Sydney quipped, trying to understand Malia's logic.

"Well yeah, anyone else would've tried to stop me." Malia pointed out using a tone that suggested Sydney was an idiot for not already knowing that. "Theo was supposed to help me kill her."

"First thing's first here," Sydney started and waited for Malia to be looking right at her. When the werecoyote held her gaze, she kept going, "if you wanted someone to help you _kill_ your mother, you should've at least considered asking me."

"You? Why would you want to help me?"

"Usually I wouldn't but I'm not a big fan of the idea of your father somehow managing to reconcile with your mother."

"You mean because you're with Peter now?" Malia quipped and Sydney bit back a growl. "You'd help me kill my own mother because you're jealous?"

"Does that really matter, the goal is the same." Sydney argued.

Deaton pressed his hand against Malia's side one more time and when he pulled it away, he helped the girl sit up on the table. Steve forced a smile at her and then turned his attention to the very vet himself.

"Can we talk in private for a few minutes?" Steve asked. "I was hoping you could help me out, I'm looking for a contraceptive that works on werewolves."

Sydney shook her head with an amused smile and watched as Steve disappeared out of the room with Deaton next to him. She listened carefully as the two said a few sentences about their past and all the things that they had been dealing with recently and when she felt that Steve had settled in to a nice, comfortable conversation with Deaton, she turned her sights back to Malia, who dropped her feet down to the floor and lunged forward, moving away from the table.

"I don't have to call you step mom or anything, do I?" Malia asked and Sydney let out an amused snort. However, when she met Malia's gaze, she took note that she was being completely serious, okay, huh, well that was unexpected.

"Uh no, you can call me Syd, that's fine with me, in fact, if we could both just pretend that the whole step mom thing isn't actually true, I think maybe that'd be for the best." Sydney replied with a small, teasing smile. "But if you want to meet your half sister, that's a different story."

Malia reluctantly wandered closer to Sydney, who moved side by side with her, heading over to the counter where Bruin resided, still tucked away safely in her carrier. Sydney reached in and unbuckled the straps holding her in place, then she lifted the tiny little girl out of the padded seat and hugged her against her chest.

"She smells like him." Malia remarked. "Not a lot, but it's there."

"I know." Sydney smiled at her. "Seriously, if you want help in the future taking down your real mom, just call me. I could go for an adventure right about now."

"I'll keep that in mind." Malia remarked and lifted her hand up. She made a move to reach out to touch Bruin but stopped in her tracks and looked at Sydney, seeking permission. When Sydney gave her an encouraging nod, Malia ran the tips of her fingers down Bruin's back, the baby letting out a soft coo in response. Malia repeated the motion, this time she continued it all the way through and began moving her fingers in a circular motion.

"I can't believe you trusted Theo though." Sydney joked. "No offense, that was a dumb move."

"Yeah, no kidding." Malia scoffed. "I think I've learned my lesson this time."

"I'd hope so." Sydney bowed her head. "Look, I know we're not the best of friends or anything but if you ever need my help, with _anything_ , you can call me."

Malia paused in her ministrations and took a step closer to Sydney. She turned her back to the counter and stood right next to her, their hips brushing, which drew Sydney's attention to the younger girl beside her.

"I appreciate that." Malia stated. "The uh, the same goes for you."

"Thanks." Sydney mumbled, unsure of where to go at this point. She didn't want Malia to get the wrong idea but Sydney was no longer aware of how she really felt about the girl.

On one hand, she was Peter's daughter, she was jealous because of that fact alone, but it wasn't like Malia had chosen him as her father. She had a loving parental figure in the man that had adopted her, it wasn't like Malia was going to be looking for a loving family in the form of Peter Hale.

On the other hand, Sydney didn't really want to get to know the girl standing next to her. Malia was a part of Peter's past, a part that she would've rather stayed there.

"You're not so bad." Malia said in a low tone.

"Neither are you." Sydney replied. "You're brave, strong, smart-"

"You should stop before I start thinking you actually like me." Malia cut in and when Sydney met her gaze, she could tell that Malia was teasing her.

"Wouldn't want that." Sydney shook her head with a grin.

Malia let out a soft, contented sigh, and Sydney felt her lean against her side. She continued to cradle Bruin in her arms while also basking in the feeling of Malia's body against hers. She shouldn't have jumped to conclusions, she shouldn't have been instantly against Malia from the beginning, they weren't enemies, they were allies. They shared a lot of the same traits, they were both fierce, strong and loyal, they'd both do whatever they could to protect those that they loved, and now they both shared a mutual dislike for the one and only Theo Raeken.

"I should go." Malia piped up and jerked her body away from Sydney's. Sydney nodded her understanding but gently took hold of her wrist, holding her in place.

"I'm sorry, for everything." Sydney breathed the words out.

"Me too." Malia dropped her eyes down to the floor and Sydney let go of her, no longer having anything left to say. Malia took off quickly and disappeared out of the back room, leaving Sydney all alone with Bruin.

She sucked in a breath and said a little prayer in her head for Malia, she wanted the girl to be safe, she wanted her to be okay and maybe one day, they could even call one another friend.

When Steve and Deaton stepped back into the room, Sydney forced a smile onto her face and waited patiently for the two men to say something to her.

"This must be the infamous Bruin." Deaton commented and moseyed on over towards Sydney. Without asking him if it was okay, she offered the baby to him and Deaton gathered Bruin into his arms, gently rocking her back and forth.

The baby stared up at him with bright, wide open brown eyes and when a red flicker passed through her irises, Deaton barely even flinched. Sydney covered her mouth and looked at the vet, wondering if he knew what the hell caused something like that to happen. She had witnessed it a few times before but no one around her could offer up much on the subject matter.

"You know, your eyes did that as well when you were a baby." Deaton remarked, giving her a smile. "I think your daughter has inherited the Vance eyes."

"You're saying her eyes are hereditary?" Sydney asked in a disbelieving tone. "That's all that is?"

"I wouldn't say that that's _all_ it is but it's certainly a sign of things to come. You have a beautiful daughter."

"Thanks." Sydney sighed.

An awkward silence fell over them all, Deaton continued to hold Bruin, looking her over as he did so, and Sydney kept her eyes trained on the man in front of her, the very man who had known her mother when she was still alive.

She had so many questions, so many things she wanted to hear him say, but she didn't want to be rude. He'd tell her what she needed to hear, when she needed to hear it, it was just the type of person he was. Steve cleared his throat, sensing the awkward tension, and drew everyone's attention towards him.

"Now Doc, can we get back onto the topic of that werewolf contraception I was asking you about earlier?" Steve broke in and Sydney was thankful for his words, no matter how much she didn't want to think about the topic he was bringing back up.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _And here we have the alpha werewolf making alliances with the werecoyote...how do you guys feel about that?_**


	51. Chapter 51

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 51** **:**_

Saying goodbye to Steve had come fast, too fast for Sydney's liking and now that she was back at the house, with the moon high in the sky, she didn't want the man to leave. He was a welcome addition to their pack for the time being but she knew, just as well as everyone else, that he had his own life back in Colorado.

Stealing a glance over at Charlie, who was standing in the driveway next to her father, Sydney let out a soft sigh and peered down at the baby in her own grasp. Bruin was sound asleep and the sooner they all said goodbye to Steve, the sooner Sydney could get Bruin, as well as the rest of her pack, to bed for the night. It had been a busy day and the morning wasn't looking like it'd be any less busy.

Charlie still had to go to school, they still had to figure out what to do with the information regarding Deucalion and Sydney wanted to express to the twins the whole situation around Malia's mother. She had told the girl that she'd willingly help her bring the werecoyote to her death, but if that was going to happen, Sydney needed to at least inform her pack of the offer she had extended. The more she thought about it, the more she was torn on what she really wanted.

Killing Malia's mother sounded like a good idea at the time, and if Malia wanted her dead, then who was she to argue, but at the same time, Sydney had a family, a pack to look after, and she didn't know how strong or powerful the woman was. She was obviously fairly impressive because Peter had been with her and in her head, he didn't just choose mediocre girls. Hell, when he had finally admitted that he loved her, it had only been after she had lit Jennifer Blake's body on fire. No, Peter Hale didn't settle for average.

When Ethan came up to stand next to Sydney, setting his hand on her shoulder and pulling her out of her thoughts, she turned towards him and forced a smile onto her face. She was anxious, she was nervous and she hated that she didn't know what the hell was really going on in Beacon Hills. There were chimeras running around loose, Dread Doctors instilling fear into every teenager they crossed paths with and that wasn't even starting in on the so-called beast that Chris Argent had informed her about.

Beacon Hills had always been a chaotic place but even this was getting to be too much for Sydney. Hell, maybe Steve had the right idea in leaving while he was still alive.

"How was Deaton's?" Ethan asked, a genuinely interested tone to his voice. Sydney offered him a half shrug and sucked in a breath.

"It was fine, I ran in to Malia." Sydney answered, her words coming out soft and unsure. "She's trying to kill her mother."

"Kill her mother?" Ethan repeated the words, echoing them back to her as though he didn't fully understand the concept. "Who would want to _kill_ their mother?"

"Well Malia for one." Sydney remarked. "I don't know, I guess her mom's a pretty nasty person."

"Who warrants an execution?" Ethan pressed and Sydney let out a frustrated sigh. He had a point, he generally had a point, but considering she was all gung-ho about finally having something to do with Malia that didn't involve Sydney wanting to rip the girl's hair out, he wasn't exactly on the same page as her.

While the Desert Wolf was someone she wasn't familiar with, did that mean that Ethan was right? Maybe she _had_ done something to warrant an execution and even if that was the case, was Sydney the right person for the job?

"You know, considering you were part of a murderous pack of alphas, I figured you'd be a little more for _murdering_ people." Sydney grumbled. "Is that too much to ask."

"I was never all that supportive of the murdering part." Ethan countered with a small smirk on his face, but she noticed that it quickly turned into a frown. She knew that having been a part of what Deucalion had set in motion couldn't have been easy. She knew that he felt responsible for Boyd and Erica's deaths, and rightfully so, but she never _blamed_ them for what they had done.

Most of the people she knew had blood on their hands, including herself, and that didn't make her a bad person, did it? She shook her head and tried to gather her thoughts together, thinking back on all of the things she had done that she hadn't entirely felt good about.

The guy that had assaulted her _had_ been an asshole and sure she probably did society a favour by taking him out, but did that mean he deserved to die? Did Theo?

Theo had gone after her friends, he had attacked her town and threatened her directly, but did that mean that she had to kill him, or was there an alternative?

Surely she of all people could recognize when a second chance was necessary, Peter wasn't all that good to start with, he still hadn't been that good when she had left him locked away in Eichen House after he had tried to kill Scott when they had gone to Mexico all those many months ago. She certainly hadn't brushed him off just because he was a little homicidal here and there.

"I'm not going to object to your decisions, I'll always have your back but I am going to make you really think about what you're doing before you just jump into something as serious as homicide." Ethan piped up, breaking Sydney out of her thoughts. "But if you think long and hard and come to the same conclusion-"

"I don't know." Sydney cut him off and shook her head. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking, I just…she's a threat and the easiest way I know how to get rid of threats is to kill them. I'm not like Scott, I don't have that much faith in people but I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Well, that's what we're here for." Ethan grinned at her. "What good is having a pack if you can't talk to them about certain things?"

"You're right." She let out a sigh and her attention moved back over towards Charlie and her father, who were still talking to each other but in hushed tones.

Sydney didn't need to use her werewolf hearing to know that he was telling her to be careful and that if she changed her mind on wanting to go back home that he'd come pick her up the next day. Part of her wondered if maybe Charlie should go with her father, but ultimately, she was old enough to make her own decisions, plus it was really nice having a female pack member that doubled as a friend. Charlie was definitely someone that she adored having in her life and Sydney didn't know if she'd be able to handle letting her go for too long.

"Dad!" Charlie whined, her voice returning back to its usual decibel. Sydney chuckled at the girl's protest, having just barely caught the mentioning of Isaac's name seconds before. Oh yes, Steve was every bit the protective dad that she figured he was and there was no way he was leaving Charlie alone in Beacon Hills without warning her of the consequences that _could_ happen if her and Isaac did anything he didn't approve of.

"If he so much as looks at you the wrong way, I will…I will rub wolfsbane in his eyes." Steve countered and Sydney shook her head in amusement and strode forward, closing in on the two of them. "I got some stuff from Deaton earlier that I want you to use if, god forbid, you have sex with that boy."

"Dad!" Charlie barked and shied away from his gaze. "I'm not a kid."

"I know, that's why I haven't already threatened _him_ with death if he so much as lays a hand on you that you don't want." Steve explained. "I just want you to be safe, in the relationship sense _and_ the whole survival sense."

"Okay." She nodded her head and when Sydney came up behind her, setting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, she let out a soft sigh. "Okay, you're right."

"Damn straight." Steve gave her one firm nod of his head but stepped forward and opened his arms. Charlie broke away from Sydney's grasp and closed the distance between her and her dad, letting him embrace her while she relaxed in his hold. She knew that he was leaving her, he was heading back home, and that he'd be safer there, but it still sucked. She didn't want to say goodbye, she didn't really want him to go, but she knew that he had to.

He had a house, a job, patients that relied on him back in Colorado. He couldn't just stay in Beacon Hills with them forever, plus, who was to say that Sydney was planning on staying in Beacon Hills any longer than for Charlie's senior year. No one had openly asked the alpha what her plans were, nor did anyone seem to want to know, it all hinged on the outcome of the whole Dread Doctor business.

If none of them made it out alive, then it didn't really matter where Sydney wanted to go. If they _all_ made it out alive, then there was a good chance that Sydney would be smart enough to get the hell out before things turned ugly yet again.

"I love you." Steve murmured and pressed a kiss against the top of Charlie's head. She took in a deep breath and let his scent flood her nostrils.

"I love you too dad." She responded and reluctantly pulled away. He let her go and waved her off, letting Charlie head over to stand next to Ethan not too far away. She knew that he had wanted to speak with Sydney, hell, her mind was filled with the first time that she had left Colorado to head to Beacon Hills with her alpha. Saying goodbye then had been just as hard as saying goodbye now.

"Drive safe." Sydney stated as she took a step closer to him, Steve reaching a hand out and running it over Bruin's arm, watching as the baby squirmed slightly. "Call one of us when you get back so that we know you made it okay?"

"Of course." He bowed his head. "You be careful, and take good care of my baby girl."

"I will." Sydney said solemnly. "I'll take care of her like she was my own."

"Good good. And don't you be letting that Lahey boy put his grubby little hands all over her." Steve stated but she caught the hint of smile growing on his lips. "As much as I know she's old enough to make her own decisions, she's always going to be my little girl and if I can't be here to instill fear into the boys that are interested in her, then you're my next best option."

"Oh don't worry, the 'open door' policy will be in effect as of immediately." Sydney smiled. "Her door is never going to be closed again."

"You're learning." Steve chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. "You be safe too, and if you need _anything,_ I'm only a phone call away."

"Okay."

A silence fell over them and Steve glanced around at the rest of her pack, taking in the sight of the people that would be responsible for keeping his daughter alive. He trusted them all enough to leave Charlie in their care and he didn't even think twice about it. Sure he would've liked it if Charlie had agreed to come home with him but she was part of pack, she had friends in Beacon Hills and it wasn't just the two of them anymore.

With a heavy heart and a loud sigh, Steve took a step towards the car parked in the driveway and held his breath. Without putting it off anymore, he pulled the car door open, climbed inside and shut the door. Sydney moved back over to stand with her pack and the four of them, plus Bruin in her arms, watched as he backed out of the driveway and headed down the road.

"Come on, it's late and I'm tired." Sydney whispered and led the way into the house. Charlie paused and looked down the road until she could no longer see her dad's car, then she jogged up the front steps behind the rest of her pack, hoping and praying that she hadn't made a colossal mistake when she had decided to stay.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 _Bruin was just lying there, right in front of her when Sydney came to. She watched as her little girl tried desperately to move but she was too little, too young to be able to crawl and she hardly had any control over her body. It still hurt to see her tiny little girl lying on the ground in front of her, but as long as she was moving, as long as Sydney could hear her breathing, then it was okay._

 _Pushing her chest away from the ground, the damp, dirt covered ground, Sydney sucked in a breath and surged forward, nabbing Bruin and hugging her tight against her chest. She didn't even fret when the baby let out a whimper, no, Sydney was just glad that she was okay, she was alive, and she wasn't hurt. But that just brought up more questions: where were they and why had Sydney been out cold?_

 _At the sound of a guttural growl, Sydney's entire body went rigid and she didn't dare move a muscle. If she could just stay as still as a statue then maybe whatever was out there in the woods around them wouldn't find her. Was her plan juvenile, of course, but what other choice did she have?_

 _As slowly and carefully as she could though, she turned her head sideways in order to try and catch a glimpse, or even a scent, of whatever was out there stalking them. Another low growl sounded out around her and Sydney tried desperately to keep Bruin calm, but it was no use. She was scared and Sydney couldn't help but agree with her daughter. She didn't want to find out what was out there, she didn't want to have to fight anything, she just wanted to get her and Bruin somewhere safe._

" _Shhh Bruin." Sydney murmured and hoped that she could keep the little girl from screaming her tiny little lungs out. She could sense it coming, she knew what the warning signs were and boy was she getting the warning signs. "Mommy's got you."_

 _Sydney scrambled to her feet as swiftly and quietly as she could, then she spun around, trying to figure out where the growl had come from. Were there signs of something else out there with them?_

 _She looked around and brought her eyes down to the ground, taking in the sight of the oversized, menacing looking, paw prints embedded deep in the dirt of the forest floor. They weren't even that far away, a good ten feet at most, which meant that whatever creature was out there had been close._

 _Had it been responsible for knocking her out, was this monster the one that had caused Bruin to be lying in the middle of the forest floor just out of her grasp?_

" _Do you see anything?" Sydney asked the little girl but Bruin simply clung to her with everything she had. A small, pained cry erupted from her mouth and Sydney was quick to make an attempt to draw out her pain, successfully putting off Bruin's cries, even if just for a few seconds. "Me neither Bruin."_

 _She took a step towards the edge of the pathway that they were on but stopped at the sound of heavy breathing. She was frozen in fear and without hesitation, a cry exploded from Bruin's lungs, clearly the baby had sensed that things were about to get ugly._

 _Sydney tried to muffle her cries as best as she could without smothering her daughter, but it was no use, whatever was out there was coming for them. She could hear its ragged breathing getting louder, its heartbeat was running wild and she knew that whatever it was, it was_ _ **big**_ _. She could feel the vibrations through the ground as it moved and when a vicious roar echoed from the trees, Sydney dropped to a crouch and shielded Bruin's body with her own._

 _Sydney remained huddled and frozen in fear and it wasn't until she could hear it right behind her that she dared to make a sound, and the only sound she made was a soft shushing noise in a lame attempt to quiet her wailing baby._

 _Hot breath was felt against the back of her neck and with everything she had, she tried not to move, hoping that maybe the monster would think she was nothing more than a decoration in the forest. If she could just stay calm, if she could just-_

" _Peter?"_

 _No, no it wasn't possible! She could smell him, she could smell Peter, he was right there, he was right there next to her._

 _Sydney jerked her head up and turned sideways, catching sight of the monster- no, the beast- that was right behind her. It wasn't…could it be…was the Beast Peter?_

" _Peter?" She repeated his name and relaxed slightly as the beast crouched down, letting out a loud whimper in response. "Peter is that really you?"_

 _She loosened her grip on Bruin and turned her body to face the beast, taking in the sight of the glowing blue eyes that were once all too familiar. The beast, it_ _ **was**_ _Peter, but how, and why hadn't she realized it sooner? The thing that had been terrorizing Beacon Hills, killing innocent people in hoards, was her vey mate, the father of her child._

 _It let out another whimper and Sydney carefully planted her butt on the ground, straightening up to give the Beast- wait, Peter- a better look at their daughter. Sydney's eyes were locked on his canine-like face and when he caught sight of the baby girl in her arms, she heard his heartbeat pick up in pace._

 _Without hesitating for a second, she leaned in and reached a hand out, running her fingers over the top of his fur covered head. The beast lay right down on the ground and Sydney pressed her fingertips against his scalp, drawing out any pain that she could with the hopes that she could control the beast._

 _Control…yes, yes she_ _ **could**_ _control him, she just needed to bite him like she had done with the berserkers all that time ago. Sydney leaned forward, pressed a gentle kiss against the beast's temple and forced her canines out. She drove them into the side of his neck and felt it start to thrash against her, but she wasn't going to let go, not until she knew she couldn't save him anymore._

 _Sydney bit down harder and felt the skin in her mouth turn from a course, fur covered skin to something she was more used to biting. Yes, when she freed her teeth from his flesh, Peter was sitting on the ground, naked as the day he was born, and looking into her eyes._

" _Sydney?" He questioned softly and turned his head to the side. Sydney was quick to peel off her sweater that she was wearing, offering it to him to provide him even the tiniest little bit of warmth. He took it and spread it out over his lap before meeting her eyes. "Sydney."_

" _Hi." She smiled and extended her hands towards him again, this time she ran her fingers down his arm and took hold of his wrist. "I miss you."_

" _I miss you too." He said in response, a confused edge to his voice. "Sydney…who's…who's that?"_

 _He motioned towards the baby in her arms and Sydney's smile grew even larger. She let go of his wrist and scooted closer to her, watching as Bruin reached her own tiny hands out towards him, making a grab for anything that she could get her paws on._

" _Bruin, she's our baby girl." Sydney answered in a whisper and she watched as Peter stared down at her, studying the baby closely. "She's the sweetest little baby ever."_

" _She's…ours." Peter echoed her words but his eyes never left Bruin's form. "She's beautiful."_

" _I know." Sydney cooed and curled up against his side, feeling his arm drape over her shoulders. "She's perfect."_

 _Before he could say another word to her, Peter's head reared back and he let out a pained grunt. When Sydney looked him over, she saw the reason for it, his limbs were returning back to their beast-like appearance from moments ago. She scooted away from him, giving him the room that he needed and she watched in awe as he shifted back into the Beast, complete with his glowing blue eyes._

 _She stayed sitting on the ground but clutched Bruin tighter, not daring to move as the Beast closed in on her, his snout mere inches from her nose. Sydney reached her hand out to pet him once more but his jaw clamped onto her wrist, pulling on her arm, driving his teeth into her flesh until she heard the crunch of bone._

" _No!" Sydney cried and tried desperately to shield Bruin from his unprovoked attack. It was no use, the Beast continued to pull and bite her arm and when its paw came up, she anticipated the blow before the claws impacted against the side of her head, sending her tumbling to the ground._

Sydney felt her eyes glowing the very second that she woke up, she didn't, however, feel the presence of Charlie standing just inside the door to her room. When she looked around and finally caught sight of her beta, she sat up slowly in the bed and tried to get her heart to stop pounding against her rib cage. Charlie raised her hands in surrender and took a few steps closer to the bed, waiting for Sydney to wave her forward before she lowered herself down next to her alpha.

"Another nightmare?" Charlie asked in a whisper.

"Yeah, I dreamed that Peter was the beast." Sydney explained quickly, hoping that saying it out loud made it feel less real. "I bit him and he turned back to himself but it didn't work, he didn't stay Peter, he reverted back into the beast."

"And then what? Did the beast hurt you?"

"I think it was trying to kill me, and Bruin." Sydney answered and pulled the covers down next to her. Charlie scurried closer to her and curled up against her alpha's side, hoping that being near her would calm her enough that neither of the twins came running to check on her. "God Charlie, what the hell is wrong with me?"

"Nothing Syd. Just because you have nightmares, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you." Charlie stated. "Everyone gets nightmares."

"I feel like I'm going crazy." Sydney murmured. "I keep seeing Peter in my nightmares though. I'm supposed to love him, so why do I keep-"

"Nope, you don't get to think like that okay. You love him, don't question that, especially when he's not here to defend himself. Just try to think of the good times with Peter, like, I don't know, obviously you must've had a good time when Bruin was made." Charlie shrugged. "Not that I think about that sort of thing, but like, clearly you're not a virgin."

"Ha ha." Sydney said sarcastically. "The sex _was_ pretty good, but I don't know, it's hard to remember the good times when all those good times happened before Bruin was here. I just wish I could have him _and_ Bruin with me, you know?"

"I do." Charlie nodded her understanding. "You want your mate, that's natural."

"Yeah." Sydney let out a sigh and slipped her arm around Charlie's waist. "Here's a tip for you, don't ever mate yourself with anyone, okay?"

"Why not?" Charlie leaned her head back and looked up at her alpha.

"Because it's painful." Sydney quipped.

"But what if I plan to spend the rest of my life with them?"

"Then make sure you want kids because going into heat is shitty as hell." Sydney answered with another sigh. "I was so miserable when I was in heat."

"Yeah?" Charlie couldn't help but smile at her alpha being miserable. "What's it like?"

Sydney studied her beta's face for a few seconds and sucked in a breath. This wasn't necessarily a conversation that she wanted to have with Charlie but she wasn't going to keep the facts from her either.

"I just remember being so hot, and my skin felt tight. The very first night of my heat, I just started scratching my skin so much that I ripped right through, Peter came home and found me in the bed covered in blood." Sydney chuckled at the memory. "He thought I was attacked, I had deep scratches all over me and he thought someone else did it, not just me being in heat."

"Wow."

"I spent most of the week sedated, and when I wasn't sedated, I'd be begging him for sex. It was like nothing I could do would quench my thirst for him."

"Okay, you've gone far enough." Charlie lifted her hand up in surrender and shook her head. "Why _did_ you decide to be mated to him anyways?"

Sydney snuggled up closer to Charlie and brought them both down into the pillows. She turned her attention to her beta and a smile crossed her face. Okay, maybe Charlie had a point, remembering the good times was clearly not as difficult as Sydney had originally thought.

"I love him, it seemed like the right thing at the time. I didn't want him to be with another girl so I bit him and he bit me. It was nice, really nice, until he went right nuts."

"That's too bad." Charlie hummed. "You don't think he did anything like that with Malia's mom, do you?"

"I don't think so." Sydney shook her head. "It took a lot of convincing on my part for him to let me bite him."

"But he did." Charlie pointed out.

"He did." Sydney nodded her agreement. "He's such a stubborn asshole but god I can't help but love him. Charlie, promise me that if you ever fall in love, you'll be safe, no matter what."

"You mean like sex?" Charlie gaped.

"I meant like in general but sex especially." Sydney giggled. "One baby around here is enough, plus your dad would murder me if I took you back to Colorado pregnant."

"I know, right after he got done murdering me." Charlie grinned. "I won't do anything like that."

"You can have sex, just don't go unprotected. Isaac's a nice guy, you could do a lot worse." Sydney teased and Charlie's cheeks reddened at her comment. "Theo comes to mind right away."

"Okay." Charlie scoffed and relaxed against Sydney's side. "Can I stay here with you for the night?"

"Of course." Sydney replied and let out a soft sigh of relief. "You're a good beta Charlie, thank you for being part of my pack."

"Your welcome Syd, thanks for _letting_ me be part of your pack."

Sydney gave Charlie a brief hug and curled up into the covers, feeling Charlie do the same next to her. She slipped her hand into Charlie's and gave it a gentle squeeze, hoping that when morning came, it would be a better day for them both.

Sydney was getting real tired of trying to stay alive.


	52. Chapter 52

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 52** **:**_

If Sydney hadn't volunteered to drive Charlie over to Stiles' house then she would've gladly walked with Isaac, but Sydney was going somewhere else that evening with Bruin, somewhere that she hadn't wanted just anyone to know about. Once they were in the car, and before they had nabbed Isaac from Chris' house, Sydney had informed Charlie that she was heading over to Peter's apartment in order to try and find anything that seemed relevant to her life. Maybe he had pictures tucked away somewhere, maybe he had more trinkets stuffed in another drawer, either way, that's what Sydney was planning to do that night while Charlie was at Stiles' house.

As soon as she had pulled into the driveway, Isaac had been quick to hop out and before Charlie had a chance, he had her door open while he waved her forward. She smiled her appreciation at Isaac and hopped out too, but she hesitated and turned around so that she could lean into the car. Sydney was staring at the front of the house and when Charlie followed her line of sight, she immediately knew why.

Stiles was there, he was walking out of the house and heading right for the car, all the while Sydney stared right at him, wondering what he needed to talk to her about. Charlie shook her head and closed the car door before slipping her hand inside Isaac's and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Hi Stiles." Charlie said with a wave in his direction and Stiles lifted his hand up, waving right back at her.

"You can go inside, I just need a minute to talk to Syd." Stiles announced and Charlie watched as he closed in on the car, leaning against the roof with his arms while he bent his neck down to get closer to Sydney. Charlie didn't bother arguing with him and she gave a tug on Isaac's arm, leading him towards the front door of the house and leaving her alpha in her wake.

Sydney tipped her head up and met Stiles' gaze, forcing a smile onto her face as she did so before glancing into the backseat and spotting Bruin sound asleep in her car seat. Stiles stole a look back as well and a smile crossed his face at the sight of the tiny baby girl.

"So you're really going to break Lydia out of Eichen House?" Sydney asked in a hushed tone. She hadn't really believed it when she first heard about his plan to get Lydia back but she knew that Stiles wasn't going to give up on his friend, even if in her eyes it was _just_ Lydia. "I mean, I get it, that place is all kinds of fucked up, but don't you think that's crazy even for you guys?"

Stiles shrugged at her and looked over at the front of his house, "sometimes you just got to do things."

"And Scott's on board with this?" She pressed.

"He knows we don't have much of a choice." Stiles answered.

"Okay." She rolled her eyes at him and sucked in a breath. "I'd be all for helping you guys, I would, except the last time I got anywhere near Eichen, my body shut down."

"Charlie told me." Stiles forced a smile onto his face but she could tell by the scent wafting off of him that he was uneasy knowing that bit of information.

"Speaking of Charlie," Sydney trailed off and let her words hang between them, "I know she's all excited about helping you guys on your mission but I was sort of hoping that she could sit this one out? Maybe you could suggest having a man on the outside in case things go wrong, not that they ever would or anything."

"You want me to deliberately leave her out of the main mission?" Stiles widened his eyes at her in disbelief and Sydney gave him the tiniest nod she could muster. The idea of Charlie going into Eichen House terrified her.

If things went wrong, it wasn't like she could just waltz inside the building after her, not without the potential for her body shutting down. And the twins, as much as she would've loved to include them on the plan, well they were planning a mission of their own and it would be happening at the same time as their little heist to get Lydia back.

Yes, Aidan was planning on going back to the preserve to track down Deucalion's scent again and hopefully find himself in the man's presence. Sydney was still undecided about joining him but part of her wanted nothing more than to come face to face with the man who had once been a sort of ally.

"Either that or I pull rank and tell her she's not going." Sydney stated, her eyes dropping down to her lap. "Her dad just left, I think she should take all this adventurous stuff easy until I can come up with a better plan than to let Isaac be her shadow."

"Her dad left?"

"He went back home, to Colorado." Sydney answered with a fond smile, her mind drifting to Steve and how helpful he had been to her thus far. "She's my responsibility now, I just want to make sure that nothing happens to her."

"She'll be fine." Stiles rolled his eyes but when he met her gaze, he shook his head. "She'll mostly be fine, I mean, she's good, right?"

"She's great." Sydney countered. "But people still get hurt, no matter what they are, or what they know."

"Like my dad?" Stiles' eyes were everywhere except on Sydney and with a soft, frustrated sigh, she knew exactly what the consequences would be if something ever happened to Charlie.

Sydney's heart would be broken, her spirit crushed, and that wasn't even factoring in Steve's wrath at her having let something happen. If Charlie wound up hurt, Sydney wouldn't know what to with herself.

"You're dad never would've died Stiles." Sydney murmured. She knew that she was trying her best to protect her beta but Charlie was a different story. At least with the sheriff, or hell even Stiles, she could always bite them and hope that they turn. With Charlie all she could do was draw out her pain and pray to god that whatever happened wasn't fatal. "I would've bit him before that would've happened."

"Yeah?" He tipped his head sideways and studied her expression, which was nothing short of stone cold serious. "You really mean that?"

"I know it's not ideal but yes, I mean that." Sydney held his gaze and brought out her fiery red alpha eyes, going that extra bit further to remind Stiles of the type of power she truly held. "I think Scott would've done the same."

"Maybe." Stiles muttered.

"Either way, he's got a lot of people pulling for him to make it through to become a fragile old man." Sydney teased. "I'm banking on him to spoil Bruin when she's a little older."

Stiles' lips turned up into a soft smile and Sydney couldn't help but feel a little better about the entire situation. If she had Stiles on her side, then she was good, but if he was on the same page, well that was ten times better. He just needed to back her up, he needed to get Charlie to feel like she'd be a big help by staying out of Eichen house, if he could do that, then she could handle the rest.

"He'd like that." Stiles said softly.

"I know, so would I." She smiled. "Remember what I said Stiles, I want Charlie to be on the outside of Eichen House for your plan."

"I'll see what I can do." Stiles pushed himself off the car and gave the roof a rough whack, then he cocked his head to the side, as if something else had caught his attention. "Where are you off to anyways? You aren't just dropping her off, are you?"

"Nope, I'm heading over to Peter's apartment, hoping maybe I can find something worth my time." She grinned. "I'll be back to pick her up in a little while and be safe okay?"

"Always."

Stiles stepped away from her car and she threw it into reverse, carefully pulling out of the driveway before throwing her hand out the window to wave at him. Stiles waved back and before she had a chance to reconsider where she was going, she put the pedal to the metal and took off, leaving Stiles, and Charlie, in her rearview mirror, just temporarily of course.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

She stood next to Isaac as the rest of Scott's pack filtered into the room. Stiles was standing on one side of the table with Scott while the rest of the pack members stood on the opposite side. Charlie's eyes were immediately drawn to a set of blueprints flattened out on the surface of the table while Stiles seemed more interested in the screen of his laptop, which was obviously facing in his direction.

"Bet you're glad you came." Charlie teased Isaac, having taken note of the curious look that Stiles had given Isaac as soon as he had wandered back into the house after speaking with Sydney.

"The last time I tried to help, he told me I was useless and made fun of my scarf." Isaac quipped in response and took a step around Charlie, moving to stand behind her, looking over her shoulder at the items laid out on the table. "I'm not too sure how I feel about being here."

"It'll be fine." Charlie countered and Stiles huffed at them, annoyed that they were still talking while he was getting prepared to inform them all of the plan. "Sorry."

"Just don't do it again." Stiles grumbled and turned to Scott, who gave him a nod to continue talking. "There's four steps: we get into Eichen, we get into the closed unit, we get Lydia, get out."

"Four _easy_ steps." Charlie mumbled with a roll of her eyes knowing that their mission would be anything _but_ easy. Scott shot her a look but she swore he tossed a smile in her direction too, huh, well, that was better than the glare that Stiles was currently directing her way for interrupting _yet again_.

"And we have to do it all of this while getting past orderlies, guards, electric door locks, and a mountain ash barrier." Scott added in.

"You have a plan for all of that?" Malia questioned quickly and Charlie looked at Stiles, hoping that he'd be glaring at her too. No such luck, apparently Malia's question was a good one, or at least Stiles found it relevant to the topic at hand. Stiles lifted up a white plastic card with a clip attached to it and Charlie immediately narrowed her eyes in on it.

"I stole this last night off an orderly but it's useless because they reset the codes each night." Stiles said without really answering Malia's question.

"So why did you take it?" Kira countered.

"Yeah, seems counterproductive to me." Charlie threw in and she swore that Stiles growled at her, yes, Stiles, the human of the pack, growled at her.

"I'm getting to that." Stiles replied.

"The only way to get Lydia out of Eichen is to make that key card work again." Scott explained but Charlie let out a huff of confusion. This plan was already way too complicated for her and she knew that it wouldn't play out as smoothly as anyone was hoping, getting Lydia back _almost_ seemed like a lost cause.

Isaac's hand came down to rest gently on the back of her neck, giving her skin a squeeze. She felt her heart settling back into a normal rhythm at his touch, a good thing considering the more of their plan that was unveiled to her, the less confident she was in getting the banshee out of the insane asylum. Shooting Isaac a thankful look over her shoulder, she quickly focused back on the task at hand.

"How are you going to do that?" Liam questioned.

"Yes, how _are_ we going to make the key card work again?" Isaac added and narrowed his eyes in on Stiles. "Do you suddenly know another werewolf who doubles as a hacker of sorts?"

"We're getting to that, okay, just _listen_." Stiles grumbled and held his hand out towards them all, signaling for them to keep quiet and be patient. He gripped the top of the laptop and spun it around so that everyone on their side of the table could see whatever it was he was looking at. To Charlie it was just a list of letters and numbers but she could see it in Stiles' eyes, this, whatever it was, was important to their plan. "I pulled all the history off the key card. Two weeks ago, there was a brownout and the security system rebooted: during a reboot, all of the key cards revert back to a default code, so, if we trigger a reboot-"

"The card goes back to the default code. It works again." Liam cut in and Charlie gave him a firm slap on the back.

"Adorable puppy genius." She grinned at him and Isaac's grip on the back of her neck got a little rougher than it had been seconds ago. She shook her head and leaned back so that her back was against Isaac's chest, silently reassuring him that there was nothing for him to worry about.

"How are we going to cause a brownout?" Kira piped up and suddenly all eyes were on her, all eyes except for Charlie, who seized her opportunity to steal a look at Isaac and smile in his direction. His grip on her neck released completely and instead, she felt his fingers slip in between hers.

"That's your part." Scott answered. "You're going to draw power from the main line but only enough to cause the brownout."

"Not a blackout, do that and you send Eichen into lockdown which would be bad; very, _very_ bad." Stiles added on quickly. He leveled a glare in Isaac's direction, almost daring him to say something but Charlie just gripped his hand tighter, reassuring him that things were going to be okay.

"There's an electrical room behind the reception counter." Scott continued and used a nearby marker to point to the reception counter on the blueprint. Charlie studied the layout of the building carefully, hoping that she could memorize enough of it so that if she got herself into trouble, then she'd be able to find a way out. "The main power line goes into two breakers that run power to all of Eichen."

"Okay, slight problem." Kira protested. "I don't know how to do that."

"That's okay, you have time to practice." Scott was calm when he replied but Charlie could easily sense how anxious he was over the whole entire mission. Was he really worried? Was Scott, the one person who always seemed to believe things would work out, truly worried?

"Let's say all this goes perfectly; how does a brownout get us into the closed unit of Eichen?" Malia inquired.

"We lose a little power and poof, everything's dandy?" Isaac jeered.

"No." Stiles rolled his eyes but carried on, pretending that Isaac hadn't said anything to start with. "The system takes five minutes to reboot, in that five minutes all the alarms will be turned off the key card should work."

" _Should_?" Charlie's eyes widened as she considered how easily everything could go wrong. If the key card didn't suddenly work because of the brownout, then they'd be stuck, they'd have worked so hard to get to that point and potentially be stopped all because of some system glitch. That didn't sound very reassuring to Charlie.

"In theory." Stiles nodded.

"What about in practice?" Isaac fired back. "Theory's all well and good but _theory_ won't save our asses if we get stuck in the loony bin."

"I think I liked it better when you were in France." Stiles muttered and Charlie let out a snort of amusement. Tough luck, Isaac wasn't in France, he was right there with them and he'd be a good help, she knew it, or at least, she hoped he would be.

"Liam, you and I get Stiles to the gate of the Closed Unit." Scott carried on explaining, brushing off Stiles' comment. "But after that, Stiles has to go on his own. We can't get past the mountain ash barrier, and when we're gone, all anyone's going to think is that there was a reboot of the security system caused by a brownout."

"Uh, any questions?" Stiles opened up the floor to the rest of the pack to speak but he locked his eyes onto Charlie, almost daring her to say something in response.

"How do we get into Eichen House in the first place?" Liam quipped.

"What's our worst-case scenario?" Malia threw out.

"What if I can't do it?" Kira cried all the while Charlie remained silent with a growing smirk on her face.

"Okay, admittedly, a lot could go wrong." Stiles was clearly trying to keep the troops rallied and Charlie had to admit, he was doing a fairly decent job. His plan was a good one, but that didn't mean she was confident in it.

" _Everything_ could go wrong." Liam countered.

"Guys, if we _don't_ do this, we lose Lydia. She's going to die in there, and she might take a lot of innocent people with her." Scott said firmly.

"Then we do this." Charlie nodded. "We do this for Lydia."

"Actually, there's another part of the plan." Stiles responded and kept his eyes trained on Charlie. "We need someone on the outside, someone who can be available if things go wrong."

Charlie looked around the room but everyone else was looking back at her, even Isaac. She knew what Stiles was trying to get at, she knew that he meant she was the person that they wanted on the outside, but didn't she have more to offer than playing the role of backup?

"That's it?" Charlie stared at him in disbelief. "Is this because I'm not actually part of the pack?"

"Nope." Stiles shook his head and when she looked over at Scott, he shook his head too. "Not at all."

"I volunteer to stay with her." Isaac raised his hand and ran his other hand over her shoulder. "Unless you need me?"

"Nope, we're good." Stiles shook his head overdramatically and Charlie let out a sigh. "If we're good, are _you_ good?"

Charlie nodded her head yes. Maybe being the backup wasn't so bad after all. She had Isaac who was going to be with her, maybe they'd get a few minutes to _bond_.

Charlie could only hope.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney had Bruin lying comfortably in the middle of Peter's bed with a pillow on either side of her so that she couldn't roll off even if she really wanted to. The little girl had become rather fussy the second Sydney set foot in Peter's apartment, which only served to remind her that Bruin had no idea who her father was.

She had never once forgotten that Peter had no idea about Bruin but there were days when it was the farthest thing on her mind, days like recently when she had to band together with Chris Argent or Scott McCall in order to keep Beacon Hills in one piece. Today though, being inside Peter's very apartment, just made her anxious and upset.

How could he have left her, how could Peter have given her up for a chance at power? It wasn't like Peter stood a chance at killing Scott and even if he had, she didn't think it would've mattered; a true alpha's powers can't just be taken, right? So what had crossed his mind, what in the hell had made him think that it was a good idea to take on the one kid that wouldn't just bend to his will?

"Your dad's a total idiot." Sydney muttered and looked over her shoulder at Bruin, who was cooing softly at the stuffed wolf that resided on her stomach. Its embroidered eyes looked into hers and Sydney shook her head at the sight. "I feel bad for you- oh god, that sounded bad. I mean I feel bad because I could've done such a better job at picking out a guy to have a baby with."

Bruin didn't respond, not that Sydney had been expecting her too, but even so, Sydney stepped across the room and lowered herself down so that she was laying on her side right next to Bruin. She moved the wolf away and Bruin's eyes were immediately on her, a flicker of red running through her irises momentarily.

Without thinking about it, Sydney leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against Bruin's forehead, easily sensing the girl's unease at being in a place such as the apartment. She figured that there was a lingering scent strong enough for Bruin to pick up on and if she was able to pick up on it, that meant that it would smell familiar, for it was a part of her too. Was it possible that Bruin, even still as a baby, could pick up on her father's scent?

"Parrish would've been a good choice for a dad." Sydney chuckled. "He's way attractive and nice and basically the polar opposite of your dad. I guess if I think about it though, it's not like I planned you, you just sort of happened."

A whimper erupted from the small baby and Sydney was quick to hand her back the stuffed wolf, which Bruin latched on to immediately after she set her sights on it.

Sydney rolled on to her back and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what she had gotten herself into when she had shown up at Peter's door. Surely she could've picked somewhere better to go, she could've headed back to Colorado and left Derek to handle things on his own. Or she could've taken off and headed somewhere completely new, but omegas didn't last long, not to her knowledge.

"We'll be okay though, right?" Sydney looked sideways at her baby, who was paying her no attention, and smiled. While Bruin hadn't been planned, she was certainly turning out to be something that Sydney would never be able to picture herself without at this point in time. "Yeah, we'll be fine."

Hauling herself to her feet, Sydney moved over towards the dresser and pulled open the top drawer, which technically belonged to her. There wasn't much in it except for the things that she had found once upon a time when she had bene given permission to clean it out, and without anything peeking her interest, she opened the next drawer.

His clothes resided inside and Sydney felt a smile cross her face. She lifted the shirt off the top and hugged it against her chest while she buried her nose into the fabric and took in a deep inhale. It still smelled an awful lot like Peter and Sydney knew that no matter what, she still loved the man. He was her world, the one man that had made her feel like she was worth something, and so what if he was gone currently, she'd get him back, one day she'd find him and get him back so that he could be with her and their daughter.

Sydney clutched the shirt in her hands and stepped back to the bed, sitting on the edge and leaning over Bruin. Placing the garment over her baby like a blanket, she watched carefully as Bruin went as stiff as a board, the wolf falling to the back of her mind as her face screwed up.

"No, no please don't start." Sydney pleaded but it was no use, it was too late to stop the girl from crying. Bruin opened her mouth wide and let out the loudest, most ear piercing wail that she could manage, Sydney cringing at the sound.

Sydney scooped her daughter up, the shirt falling to the bed, and cradled Bruin against her chest. Bruin didn't seem to calm down at all though and Sydney tried to draw out any pain that she might've been experiencing yet she didn't get anything out of her and she knew that this cry wasn't Bruin's 'I'm hungry' cry. No, this was something different, something even Sydney had never heard before. Had the scent of Peter on the shirt set her off? Had the familiar yet strange scent of her own father scared her, or freaked her out?

She was only a baby, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to pick up on something like that, surely Bruin recognized the scent, she'd have to, it was part of her very own aroma. Had Sydney sent her baby into a frenzy simply because she had draped the girl in one of Peter's shirts?

Standing up and still cradling the screaming baby against her chest, Sydney tried rocking her gently, hoping that her motions would soothe Bruin, but with each and every sway of her body, Bruin just seemed to get louder and more distressed.

"Jesus." Sydney winced as Bruin's fist tangled itself in the ends of her hair. "Okay, okay, crap, what…what do you want, what am I supposed to do?"

Peter's shirt was still lying in the middle of the bed and when Sydney caught sight of it, she bent over slightly and swiped it, wrapping it around Bruin in an attempt to swaddle her, hoping that maybe if she could just get used to the scent, if she could see that it was okay, then maybe she'd calm down. Bruin just squirmed even more and cried louder, causing Sydney to let out a growl of frustration.

Sydney looked down into Bruin's tear-filled eyes, "What do you want?"

She made another attempt to swaddle the baby but Bruin just jerked her arms back and forth as though she was trying to get away from the shirt.

Was that really it? Was it possible that maybe she was wailing because of the shirt and nothing more? Was there something wrong with it, aside from Peter's lingering scent?

Sydney looked it over as best as she could while still holding on to Bruin. Everything seemed to be in order, it was just a shirt after all, but if that was the case, why had Bruin gone rigid as soon as she had placed it over her. Tossing the shirt to the floor, Sydney dropped her butt down onto the edge of the bed and readjusted her hold on her little girl.

"I'm so sorry Bruin." Sydney murmured and rocked her back and forth, nabbing the wolf from behind her and offering it to the baby. Bruin latched on to it and hugged it roughly against her chest, all the while Sydney continued to rock her, her cries decreasing with every second that passed. "Maybe we should just go home, huh? You want to go home?"

Slowly but surely Bruin's tears ceased and when she peered up at Sydney, she swore the little girl smiled. Okay, well if home was where Bruin wanted to go, then home was where she'd take her, Peter's apartment could wait, after all, it wasn't like anyone was going to be home any time soon.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**


	53. Chapter 53

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 53** **:**_

Things at the house had significantly mellowed out since Charlie's dad had left. It wasn't that things were tense when he was around but having a human adult in a house full of werewolves had been difficult enough to warrant a little anxiety. No one wanted to hurt Steve, nor did they want harm to come to Steve, both of which were very real possibilities, but now that he was off to Colorado, the house had gotten back to normal.

Except that things weren't normal at all. No, there was still a giant beast loose in Beacon Hills and there were still three creeptastic Dread Doctors who needed to be taken out of the equation. Sydney shook her head and headed down the stairs, ready to nab Aidan on her way out the door.

Their plan was still set to go ahead, her and Aidan were going to head back to the preserve and try to pick up Deucalion's scent from the bridge. Then they were going to follow it until they couldn't follow it any more, all the while Ethan would remain in the house babysitting Bruin and keeping a close eye on Isaac and Charlie, who had been successfully written out of Stiles' plan to break into Eichen House.

She knew that Charlie was still 'on call' as they had put it, but hey, at least she wasn't directly involved in the dangerous part of the plan, not yet anyhow. With Isaac nearby, Sydney knew that Charlie would be okay not being involved in Lydia's rescue mission, but she hoped that Charlie didn't actually figure it all out.

"When are you leaving?" Charlie asked from her place at the kitchen table, her eyes meeting Sydney's as soon as the female alpha set foot on the main floor.

"Like ten minutes." Sydney answered with a shrug and readjusted the leather jacket adorning the top half of her body. She looked around the kitchen and smiled at Ethan standing near the sink with a freshly made bottle in his hand while Bruin sucked back the formula inside. Isaac was sitting next to Charlie and as soon as Charlie flashed Sydney a smile, she grabbed Isaac's hand and hauled him up the stairs.

"Have fun!" Charlie called as she continued to mount the stairs. "We'll just be in my room researching stuff."

"Remember, the door stays _open_!" Sydney called back to her and rolled her eyes at Charlie's barely audible scoff. Sydney could remember what it was like to be a teenager and she wasn't going to give Charlie any leeway when it came to her being alone with Isaac.

"You know, even if they _did_ close the door, it's not like we have superhuman hearing, or the ability to smell them." Ethan teased with a shake of his head, a smile present on his lips. "I'll know the second they try something."

"And when they do try something, I need you to break it up." Sydney said in a hushed tone. "Okay, one baby is enough."

"She's _your_ baby." Ethan countered, his smiling growing. "You're the one who got herself into that mess."

"Yeah and as much as I love Bruin, one of her is plenty." Sydney stated. She couldn't help but smile along with Ethan though and when he wandered over towards her, Sydney reached out and ran her fingers over Bruin's head. "Thanks for watching her."

"Saves me a trip into the preserve with my brother." Ethan joked and at the mentioning of his twin, Aidan appeared from the basement doorway. He was dressed and ready to head out to track down Deucalion, a leather jacket on his upper half too.

"I smell pheromones." Aidan claimed and Ethan looked over at his brother with a shake of his head.

"They're not doing anything." Ethan grumbled in response, eliciting a laugh from Sydney, who was moving closer and closer to the door, clearly anxious to get a move on.

" _Yet_...I'm still waiting for one of their heart rates to skyrocket." Aidan countered but shook his head and moved to fall in step behind Sydney. "Isaac knows what we're capable of, I hope you won't have any trouble reminding him if he gets out of hand."

"I'm more worried about Charlie." Ethan let out a soft sigh and motioned with his head for his brother to get a move on. "Go, and make sure you both come back in one piece."

Sydney lifted her hand into the air and waved at Ethan before stepping out onto the front porch, Aidan moving quickly to take up his place right behind her. Ethan shook his head as the two of them disappeared outside, pulling the door shut behind them. He wandered over and tossed the lock across before heading back into the heart of the kitchen, at which point, Bruin had finished with her bottle.

Holding her steady, Ethan made his way for the stairs and took them quickly as he wandered up to check on the two teenagers tucked away in Charlie's room. Her door was wide open and Ethan paused to listen in, making sure they weren't doing anything too drastic before he stepped into the doorway.

Immediately Charlie flew back from Isaac, breaking the kiss and raising her hands into the air. Ethan shook his head at them but wandered across the hall into Sydney's room with a snicker.

"Just remember, I can hear _and_ smell you two!" He hollered and Charlie felt her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

She looked over at Isaac and caught the small smile on his face before he reached his hand out and cupped the back of her neck. Leaning in, she let him press another kiss against her lips but it didn't go any further than that and seconds later, they parted, sitting across from one another on her bed.

"You're not actually scared of Syd or the guys, are you?" Charlie asked in a hushed tone.

"I wouldn't use the word scared." Isaac chuckled in response. "I mean, they've made it blatantly obvious that as long as you don't get pregnant, then I'm not in any danger."

"Right." She shook her head. "Are you afraid of my dad though?"

Isaac's smile faltered and he stiffened at her words. Did her dad scare him? Boy she hoped that Isaac was a little nervous when it came to making sure he followed her dad's rules, but did she really want him to be _scared_ of the man who raised her?

"Maybe a little." Isaac confessed.

Charlie scrunched up her nose but let his answer slide. Okay, maybe having Isaac a little bit scared of her dad was a good thing. If he wasn't scared, then that meant there had to be something wrong with him, boys should definitely be afraid of their girlfriend's dads, right?

But was she his girlfriend? Was she just a friend that he liked to kiss? Was she just a friend that he kissed because he was bored or didn't really have anyone else around _to_ kiss? Was he going to ditch her the first chance he got because he laid his eyes on someone prettier and more experienced than her?

"Jesus Charlie, what's gotten in to you, I can hear your heart hammering away in your chest." Isaac remarked and she jumped slightly, not expecting him to call her out. Okay, well, she could be honest with him and admit to the reason why her heart was pounding, or she could lie, she could lie her heart out-

"What are we?" Charlie had the words out so fast that she barely registered they had come from _her_. "You and me, we're friends, right?"

"Of course." Isaac nodded his head.

"But like, I mean, is that _all_ we are?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Isaac locked his eyes with hers and she held her breath, hoping that maybe that would give her a few seconds to collect her own jumbled thoughts. She still wanted to know what they were but surely there was a better way to handle this whole situation, wasn't there?

Maybe the Band-Aid method was best, maybe if she just ripped if off real quick then the pain, and embarrassment, would be over with shortly after the initial shock instead of lingering longer than necessary.

"I like you." Charlie breathed the words out and sucked in another anxious breath. "A lot."

"I like you too." Isaac nodded his head in agreement.

"So then, like what are we?"

"I don't know." He shrugged and took hold of her hand. "What do you want us to be?"

"I want us to be a thing, I think, but only if that's uh, if that's something that you'd want to. If you just want to be friends then I can be friends-"

"Charlie." Isaac cut her off with a shake of his head. When his lips turned up into a smile, she let out a sigh and waited for him to continue speaking. "We can be a thing, I'd really like for us to be a thing."

"Yeah?" She quipped and widened her eyes in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Am I sure that I want to be a thing with you?" He cocked his head to the side and when she nodded her head yes, he bit back a laugh. "Yes."

"You're _absolutely_ sure?"

"Yes." His smile only grew and Charlie leaned forward, scooting closer to him on the bed. She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek and when she pulled back, he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I would be honoured to have a thing with you."

Charlie shied away from his gaze and looked down at her feet, contemplating what she wanted to say next. There were so many thoughts racing through her head, so many questions she wanted to ask him but she knew that if she started speaking, her words would get mixed up and her thoughts wouldn't clear out at all.

She sucked in a breath and squeezed her eyes shut, praying that she could ask what she _really_ wanted to know without managing to upset him. It was obviously a tough topic for him but she had to know, she was _desperate_ to know.

"Have you decided on an alpha yet then?" Charlie asked bluntly and Isaac's body went rigid at her question. "Never mind, you don't have to answer that, unless you want to, I guess I-"

"Charlie stop." He shook his head at her, an amused smile still on his face. "It's a valid question and honestly, I'm still not sure."

"Well is there an alpha that you're leaning towards?" Charlie pressed.

"I don't know." Isaac shrugged. "It's not like I've spent a lot of time with either one since I've gotten back from France. I like Syd, don't get me wrong, but Scott and I go way back."

Charlie nodded her understanding. She was fully aware of the type of history that Isaac had with Scott and she couldn't fault him at all for considering joining the McCall pack, hell, if Sydney hadn't taken her in, she would've jumped at the chance to be one of Scott's betas. But part of her wanted Isaac to choose Sydney, then they'd be able to spend way more time together, plus he'd follow Sydney wherever she went, and so would Charlie.

If that happened though, would Isaac grow tired of being around Charlie that much? It'd certainly be tough, spending day after day with the person that you were in a thing with but could they make it work, would it be possible for them to not grind on each other's nerves?

"We could try making a pros and cons list?" Charlie offered and Isaac considered the idea for a split second before he nodded. She reached out and nabbed a pad of paper and a pen off the desk next to the bed. Isaac remained silent and watched intently as she scrawled 'pro' at the top left side of the page and 'con' at the top right side.

"Pro for Syd, she's pretty fierce." Isaac tossed out and Charlie scribbled Sydney at the top of the page and Scott's name about halfway down. "Con, I don't know her all that well."

"Okay." Charlie wrote out what Isaac had said and once she was done, she looked back at him with anticipation.

"Pro for Scott: he's really good at trying to protect people." Isaac tapped the edge of the page and Charlie printed it on the page. "Con: he's got a whole bunch of pack members that I'm not too sure about."

"Because you don't really know them?" Charlie stared at him and Isaac shrugged.

"I guess."

"Well, you could always get to know them."

"I could, which brings up a con for Syd; she's got the twins as her betas, I don't really know if I trust them." Isaac explained. "Not after what they did to Erica…or Boyd…"

"Fair point but I think they've learned their lesson." Charlie stated. "Pro for Syd, I'm in her pack?"

"Obviously." Isaac beamed at her and leaned against her, nudging her arm playfully. "Write that in capital letters and underline it a few times."

"Sure." She giggled.

"Con, I don't know that I trust Syd." Isaac confessed and Charlie stopped in her writing to stare at him. She was dumbfounded, Sydney, he didn't trust Sydney? But…how could he not trust Sydney?"

"Why?" Charlie blurted out and continued to stare at him.

"She's mated to Peter Hale, the same Peter Hale who went on a homicidal killing spree, also tried to kill Scott, went after his own family…that Peter Hale." Isaac remarked. "Forgive me if I'm a little leery about trusting her but if the company she keeps shows me anything, it's that maybe she could use a little better judgement."

"Okay." Charlie shook her head. "I guess you have a point."

"Plus she's never really done anything to show me she's trustworthy."

"Has she done stuff to show she's _not_ trustworthy though?" Charlie asked.

"No." Isaac sighed. "Con for Scott, there's no you."

Charlie shook her head and wrote down what he had said, ignoring the fact that he hadn't exactly given Sydney a fair chance when it came to being trustworthy. Sydney had been nothing but loyal and protective to Charlie, but she knew that there was an entire history of Sydney's in Beacon Hills. She hadn't been around for Peter's killing spree, nor had she been around for when Isaac was still a part of Derek's pack, which meant that she couldn't judge him one bit for not trusting Sydney.

"Pro for Syd, you could live in the house with us." Charlie pointed out.

"Instead of with Argent." Isaac added with a smile. "Definitely pro, so long as Syd doesn't get mad at me for being with you and try to kill me in my sleep."

"Yeah but at least if she did, you'd stand a fighting chance. Chris is a trained hunter, he could kill you ten times over before you even knew what hit you." Charlie laughed.

Isaac shook his head at her and slipped an arm around her waist. He closed the distance between their faces and pressed his lips against hers, Charlie relaxing at the action. When a low growl was heard from the doorway of the room, Charlie and Isaac burst apart and looked over to where Ethan was standing, Bruin in his arms.

"I don't care what you do, so long as I can't hear it, understood?" Ethan demanded and Charlie stared at him for a few seconds longer before a grin spread out over her face.

"Got it." Charlie nodded her head. She watched as Ethan disappeared, listening as his footsteps faded down the stairs, then she turned to Isaac and kissed him again, only this time she didn't dare pull away.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

"This where you saw him last?" Sydney asked as she stepped onto the wooden bridge spanning the small stream. She took in a deep whiff of the air and tried to distinguish between the many different scents, but it was no use. There were far too many for her to pick out just one and she hoped that Aidan knew what he was doing, and more specifically what he was looking for.

"Yeah, the chimeras wrangled him up." Aidan answered and ran his hands along the top rail of the bridge. He let his eyes fall shut and followed her lead, taking in a deep breath and picking out Deucalion's scent with ease. "If there hadn't been so many of them, he could've taken them"

"I don't doubt that." She muttered and reached out, tapping Aidan on the arm. His eyes opened on contact and he shook his head at her, clearing sensing how anxious she was just being out in the preserve with the moon so high up in the sky. "Can you track his scent?"

"Yup." Aidan smirked and slipped his fingers between hers, tugging roughly on her arm as he led her away from the bridge and in the direction that the scent taunted him.

She didn't say a word as Aidan wandered along the path on the other side of the bridge, she merely stayed right behind him and clutched his hand so as not to lose him, not that there was a high chance of that happening but she wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

Aidan picked up his pace when he reached the edge of the preserve and Sydney paused, halting his movements, but he surged forward, dragging her along behind him. She knew that he was getting closer, the scent was getting stronger, but if they were no longer on the preserve, then what did that mean for them?

Surely Theo had taken the Demon wolf somewhere safe, and it wouldn't be easy to get to the man, would it? No, no Theo wasn't stupid, he'd have someone guarding him, if not a few of his chimera pack watching out, plus she figured he'd have some sort of booby trap to keep out unwanted visitors.

"Syd, come on." Aidan whined and pulled on her arm a little harder. Sydney fell in stride next to him and when Aidan broke out into a jog, she let out a frustrated groan but did the same.

The two of them ran side by side and when the preserve disappeared behind them, she left her fate in Aidan's hands. If this was the way to Deucalion, then this was the way they were going to go. She'd deal with the consequences when they came without worrying too much about what they could possibly be.

Approaching an old, worn out building, Sydney slowed down but Aidan didn't miss a step. She felt him tug on her arm again but this time, she didn't budge. He turned to face her, a perplexed look on his face, but he stopped too and waited for her to say, or do, something.

"This seems familiar." Sydney murmured and waved her hand into the air. "I'm pretty sure I've been here before."

"Okay and do you remember any giant beasts walking around?" Aidan countered with a teasing smirk. "Syd, the only scents that I can smell that are strong are Deucalion's and one other person, see for yourself."

She did as he instructed and inhaled a deep breath, letting the scents fill up her nostrils. Okay, Aidan was right, there were definitely only two scents that were worth worrying about, the rest of the odours were faint, meaning that whoever they belonged to were long gone. Sydney shook her head and waved him forward, Aidan slipping his arm around her shoulders and moving along with her.

She shivered as they stepped inside the building but she didn't stop. She let him lead her down a dark, dank hallway and when it turned into an all too familiar looking tunnel, she let out a soft sigh. She had been here before, with Chris and Gerard Argent, this was where that ugly, freaky mural was plastered onto the wall, this was the very spot that she had seen the picture depicting the beast and the hellhound.

Aidan moved swiftly, following his nose, and when he stopped, it was only because he spotted a large metal door a few feet in front of him. He moved his arm away from her and motioned for her to follow him, then he began tiptoeing to the door. He paused just outside of it and pressed his ear against the cool metal, then he perked right up. Sydney mirrored his actions and when she heard just one heartbeat within the room, she knew that they couldn't have timed their little adventure any better if they had tried.

"He's alone." Aidan announced in a low voice. "Wait, he's _alone_?"

"Maybe Theo's not as smart as we give him credit for." She offered with a shrug and straightened up. Aidan also moved away from the door and let her take the lead, Sydney wrapping her hand around the knob and twisting it. Much to her shock and surprise, it opened, but she didn't dare step through it just yet, no, there was still a matter of the potential for booby traps.

"You just missed dear little Hayden." That voice, the one with the English accent, how could she have ever forgotten how smooth and charming he sounded when he spoke. "You're safe to come inside and see me."

"It's good to see you again Deucalion." Aidan replied, a growl rumbling deep n his chest. Sydney shook her head at him and cautiously stepped over the threshold. When nothing happened, she surged forward and descended the few steps so that she was standing on the same floor as Deucalion was sitting. His arm was hooked up to some sort of mechanical device and next to him resided what she could only describe as a tricked out fish tank.

"What'd they do to you?" Sydney asked in a whisper, crouching down in an attempt to get a better look at him without getting too close. She didn't want to get within reach in case he wasn't as weak as he looked, but at the same time, she wanted to know exactly what was going on here. "Are you hurt?"

"Not enough to warrant a panic." Deucalion answered calmly and he brought his face upwards, giving Sydney a clear look at his clouded over eyes. Was he…was he blind again? Had his eyes been damaged for a second time since she had seen him last in the distillery? "I'd say you're a sight for sore eyes but unfortunately my vision was only restored temporarily."

"Huh, well then." She cocked her head to the side and studied him a little more in depth. He didn't seem too concerned with his predicament but that didn't mean he wasn't a little anxious as to what Theo had planned for him. She rose up to her full height and took a step closer to him, trying to figure out how to get his arm out of the weird, mechanical contraption. "Are we still on the same side here?"

Deucalion rolled his head from side to side and sucked in a deep breath. She knew he was probably trying to gauge her feelings, her emotional state, but she didn't care. If he heard her heart pounding against her chest from her being on edge because of where they were, he didn't say anything.

"What side is that?" Deucalion quipped and a smirk spread out over his lips. "You're still an alpha."

It wasn't a question and Sydney didn't answer him. She just stood in front of him, wondering what she really wanted from the man sitting in front of her. He was still a threat to them, especially the twins who he had tried to get rid of once before, but that didn't mean he deserved whatever Theo had planned for him.

"We can get you out of here." Aidan piped up and took a few steps towards Sydney, taking his place beside her. "If you give us your word-"

"Oh I'm not ready to leave Theo just _yet_." Deucalion cut him off and Sydney scoffed at him. "I'm not _done_ with him."

"So you want us to just leave you here?" Sydney questioned and daringly took a few steps closer to him so that she could reach out and run her fingers through his hair. She grazed the tips of her claws over his scalp just to remind him who he was really dealing with but he didn't even flinch. Whatever he was waiting for, whatever he needed from Theo, must've been pretty important. "Really?"

"As much as I'd love to see your quaint little homestead, Theo's full of valuable information. Sorry to be rude dear Sydney but I'm content right where I am." Deucalion stated confidently and she moved her claws away from his head. Instead, she squatted down next to him and reached a hand out, poking at the tube erupting from the metal piece wrapped around his arm. "I'm not in too much pain, if that's what you're concerned about."

"No." She shook her head and followed the tube over to the tank, trying to get a better idea as to what the hell the device even was. "They just left you here? Unprotected?"

"Not exactly." Deucalion countered. "That little Hayden used kanima venom in an attempt to immobilize me."

"And it didn't work?" Sydney cocked her head to the side. "Or since you're the Demon Wolf, it didn't work as well as it would on, say, a normal werewolf?"

"Smarter than you look." Deucalion teased, a smug smile permanently on his face by this point. "You have nothing to worry about, my concerns are not with you. So long as you don't get in my way-"

"I haven't yet." She cut him off with a knowing grin. "Just don't touch my pack and we'll be fine."

Deucalion raised an eyebrow at her but shook his head, knowing that that was probably the easiest deal he ever could've made. She had never, not once, done anything to Deucalion to warrant his wrath and so long as she kept out of his way, and as long as he didn't lay a finger on any of her betas, then there would not be a reason for them to be on opposing sides.

"You know, you'll go far in this world."

"I plan to." Sydney said confidently.

"You're mother would be proud."

She gaped at him, wondering where that had come from. Sure, her mother and Talia had been friends, allies even, but there had never really been much association between Deucalion and her mother. It was possible though, Deucalion had a torrid past with Beacon Hills and it made sense that he'd know a woman as strong and powerful as Brynn Vance.

"Sometimes I'm not so sure." She said in response, trying desperately to hide the shame and embarrassment that she felt at how screwed up her life seemed to be. She was a single mother to a baby who's father was a homicidal werewolf, yes, she was certainly doing well for herself…not really. "Well, if you're sure you're nice and cozy down here, then I guess I'll leave you be."

"That's it?" Aidan spoke up.

"Why not?" Sydney looked back at him, offering him a shrug. "I'm hoping that any information you gain you'll pass on to me."

"Dually noted miss Vance." Deucalion bowed his head and Sydney hauled herself up to her feet.

She rolled her eyes at Deucalion and turned towards Aidan, who was staring at her, his eyes wide in disbelief. They had come all this way, they had tracked him from the preserve only to be leaving him exactly where he sat? What had Aidan been expecting, it wasn't like the man was all that fond of the twins, they certainly weren't going to sit around a camp fire roasting marshmallows and singing kumbaya any time soon. The best thing that Sydney could do was make sure her pack wasn't in his line of fire.

She had enough people gunning for her, she didn't need a Demon Wolf at her back.

"Take care Deucalion, if you need me, just howl." Sydney instructed and grabbed hold of Aidan's hand. Deucalion nodded his head at her and with one last look at the once powerful Demon Wolf, she led Aidan back out of the building and towards the preserve.

Neither one said a word as they made their way home, both of them hoping she knew what she was doing by leaving Deucalion in Theo's clutches.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Charlie and Isaac getting closer, Syd and Deucalion making 'nice'...things are heating up for sure._**


	54. Chapter 54

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 54** **:**_

By the time the next morning rolled around, things had seemed to calm down severely. Sydney had booted Isaac out of the house shortly after arriving home from her 'locate Deucalion' mission with Aidan, then she had tucked Bruin in and crawled into bed herself, not saying much to anyone at all.

There were too many things to think about, and now that morning was upon her, she figured that maybe it was time to start dealing with some of them. With a hungry, fussy Bruin in her hold, Sydney ventured downstairs just in time to see Charlie sitting at the table with Ethan, both of them munching on Pop tarts and drinking a glass of milk each. Without thinking about it, Sydney took a seat in the chair next to Charlie and forced a smile onto her face, hoping that maybe they could have a nice, easy talk about Isaac and his intentions.

"Morning." Charlie said softly and finished the last bite of Pop tart before opening her arms out in a silent offer to take the baby off her hands. Sydney hesitated and considered handing the baby over but concluded that she could handle her, she just needed to get herself moving too. "Okay."

Charlie retracted her arms and shot a curious look in Ethan's direction, wondering what had gotten into her alpha and curious to find out if Ethan knew why Sydney was acting a little off compared to her usual self.

"She's my baby, I can handle her." Sydney stated with a shrug. "I rely on you guys way too much when it comes to taking care of her, that's all."

"We're pack, we're here to help you, that's sort of what we do." Charlie answered and looked back to her alpha, who was smiling at Charlie. "But I guess if you want to take care of your baby all by yourself, then who am I to judge."

"Plus you have to get going to school soon." Sydney pointed out. "I wouldn't want you to be stuck holding her to the point where you'd be late for school."

"Whatever." Charlie scoffed but continued smiling back at her. "School is just school, I can be late every now and then."

Ethan let out a snort and rose up to his feet, Sydney mirroring his actions. The two of them headed into the kitchen, Ethan with the dirty breakfast dishes and Sydney with the baby firmly in her grasp. She moved to the cupboards and began work on preparing Bruin's morning bottle, while Ethan got right to work on washing the dishes. A comfortable silence remained over them, at least until Aidan came bounding up the stairs.

When the second twin appeared, fully dressed and ready for the day, he locked his eyes right on Sydney and leveled her with a glare. She met his eyes but didn't flinch, she barely even paid him any attention, instead, she tore her eyes off him and focused back in on feeding her hungry little girl.

"I've been thinking." Aidan stated and Ethan snorted once again. "Don't you dare say a word."

"What have you been thinking about?" Charlie piped up, hoping to diffuse the situation. She could tell it was a struggle for Ethan not to tease his brother at that particular moment, but he seemed to press his lips together and remain silent instead of saying something like 'oh thinking, that must've been hard for you'.

"Last night, we tracked Deucalion all the way to Theo's creepy lair, right?" Aidan continued speaking and Charlie motioned for him to keep going.

"Lair?' Sydney scoffed and Charlie and Aidan both set their sights on her. She shook her head in defeat. "That place was hardly a lair but whatever, that's clearly not the point, am I right?"

"We just left him there." Aidan announced. "We found the very Demon Wolf we were looking for and _you_ just _left_ him there. Why?"

"What was I supposed to do?' Sydney countered and, with Ethan's help, perched Bruin into her one arm while she proceeded to offer her the bottle with her free hand. "Did you really think we were going to break him out? And then what?"

"I don't know." Aidan fired back but she could see he was already starting to back down.

Whatever he had been intending to do when he first walked into the kitchen was clearly not what was actually happening. Maybe he had been expecting to fight with Sydney, to argue with her to the point where she'd give in to him, admit he was right and state that they should've done more, but she was his alpha, she was in charge and the more he studied her, standing in the kitchen feeding her tiny little baby girl, the more he realized that she knew what she was doing.

He hadn't been thinking completely clearly the night before. If the two of them had freed Deucalion, then what would they have done? Brought him back to the house and put the rest of the pack in danger? Deucalion was someone that he didn't trust, and he knew that, but he also knew that leaving him in Theo's so-called lair didn't seem like the right thing to do either.

"We set him free, then he can disappear, he can lurk in the shadows and wait for his chance to strike anyone at _any_ time." Sydney pointed out. "Or sure, we could've set him free and brought him back here, then what? Do you trust him with your life? With Ethan's or Charlie's? What about Bruin, do you think that I'd really be comfortable bringing him back here where my _daughter_ resides?"

"Okay, point made." Aidan muttered and dejectedly took a seat at the table.

"I didn't really like leaving him there any more than you did but that's what he wanted." Sydney trailed on. "He wanted to stay there, he wanted to see what Theo was up to and frankly, I think that if Deucalion _really_ didn't want to be there, he would've gotten out by now, but you and I both know that he's still right in the middle of things when it comes to Theo."

"You mean, you think he was staying there out of his own free will?" Charlie broke in, looking between her alpha and pack mate. Ethan wandered through the kitchen and took a seat at the table too, the same seat he had been using before when it had just been him and Charlie. "Really?"

"I think that man is perfectly capable of getting himself out of sticky situations on his own." Sydney answered with a small shrug.

"I'd be a little curious as to what that little asshole is planning too." Ethan threw in and finally Sydney wandered towards the table, taking a seat, the final piece of the pack puzzle. "Maybe we should just keep an eye out for anything that sounds like it could be Deucalion's doing?"

"Yeah, and an ear." Aidan nodded. "So we're really just going to leave him there? With Theo and his pack of wannabe werewolves?"

Sydney looked around the table, seeking anyone who might want to object but when no one made a noise to argue, the smile on her face grew slightly. Charlie let out a soft sigh, grateful to avoid an inner pack disagreement, and before Sydney had a chance to say anything else, she rose up off the chair in an attempt to get ready for school.

"Isaac's coming over soon." Charlie admitted and held her alpha's eyes. "He was going to walk me to school."

"Sounds like a plan." Sydney replied.

"He can train with us today if he wants." Ethan threw out.

"With the two werewolves who are responsible for the deaths of his former pack?" Charlie challenged with a concerned expression on her face.

"Hold that thought." Aidan lifted his hand up and motioned towards the front door, where noises from outside could easily be heard. Seconds later, the doorbell rang out in the house and Charlie jogged over to let Isaac into the house, leading him right back into the kitchen.

Isaac seemed a little nervous but less than how he had been when they first welcomed him into the house. Sydney threw a smile on her face and let Bruin finish with her bottle before shifting her in her arms, setting the bottle on the table.

"Morning." Sydney greeted him.

"How's it going?" Isaac asked in response.

"Fine." Sydney's smile grew as she studied the boy in front of her. "We were just talking about you actually, thoughts about joining training for today Isaac?"

Isaac seemed taken aback by the offer but when Charlie gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, he stole a glance at her, watching as she nodded her approval. He still didn't answer right away, instead, he looked between the twins, studying them for a few seconds before finally meeting Sydney's gaze.

"You want me to train with you today?" Isaac questioned, more for confirmation than anything.

"Sure. You'd get to try and kick the shit out of the twins." Sydney explained, hoping to entice him to join them for the day. "You can go, walk Charlie to class and then come back here. If you don't want to fight with the twins, you can have a shot at me."

"She's a lot tougher than she looks, especially when she's holding that baby right there." Charlie teased and wandered towards her alpha, taking up a stance next to her. "It might be good, you can work out some of that aggression you have towards the twins, maybe even get to know them like I do?"

Taking a few seconds to consider the offer, Isaac took another look around the room, welcoming the idea of sparring with the twins. Both females had a point, if he said yes, if he wanted to train with them, then he would be presented with the perfect opportunity to beat up on the twins, the very twins that had been responsible for so much carnage all that time ago. Was he up for it? Hell yes he was.

"I think I'd like that." Isaac exclaimed with a devious smile. "A _lot_."

"Perfect." Sydney nodded. "We'll be here ready and waiting when you get back from walking Charlie to school, sound good?"

"Sounds good."

Without putting it off any longer, Charlie walked away from Sydney, latched her hand onto Isaac's wrist and pulled him back to the front door. She disappeared from view and Sydney let out a soft sigh of relief as her beta took off for school, Isaac Lahey following along right behind her. The twins both looked at her, waiting for her to speak to them, to let them know what her plan was exactly.

Sydney cocked her head sideways with a soft smile and turned her back to them, leaving them slightly confused as to what they were supposed to do between that moment and the moment that Isaac returned, ready to beat up on them.

Carrying Bruin in her arms, Sydney headed up the stairs and veered back into her room, setting Bruin down on the middle of the bed as she nabbed her phone off the nightstand. Sydney gently lay down next to her little girl and scrolled through the contacts, bringing up Derek's name and simply staring at the screen for a minute before finally hitting the 'call' button.

Putting the phone against her ear, she waited in anticipation for him to answer, keeping her fingers crossed that he would. There had been many times when she had tried to call him and the phone had just rang and rang before kicking into voicemail, but she hoped that since she had informed him of Bruin's existence the last time they had spoken that he'd be more willing to answer.

On the third ring, she flinched as the phone was answered and Derek's firm, commanding voice came on the line, grumbling a soft hello. She stole a quick peek at her daughter, his cousin, and felt everything falling into place, if only she could get her hands on Peter, then things would be just fine.

"Hey Derek." Sydney spoke softly, not wanting to bother Bruin that much as she wiggled and squirmed on the bed right next to her. Reaching her hand out to the baby, Bruin latched her tiny fingers onto Sydney's thumb and drew the digit into her mouth, sucking contently on the end of Sydney's thumb. "I just wanted to call and see how you were."

"Well Syd, I'm fine, considering I recently found out that my best friend has a baby that I didn't know about." He countered but she couldn't pick up on any rough tones to his voice. She hadn't meant to keep Bruin a total secret, things just happened, life got in the way, plus he had been the one who hadn't exactly answered his phone when she had tried to call. "How's Bruin, right, that's her name, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's a combination of my mom's name and my dad's name, Charlie helped me come up with it a while ago." Sydney answered and let her eyes fall shut, her mind drifting back to a simpler time when it had been her, Peter and Derek on the same side. Sure it hadn't lasted all that long but for a short period of time, she had felt at home with the two of them. "Do you like it?"

"It's unique." Derek said. "And kind of beautiful, just like I'm sure she is."

"You have to meet her." Sydney gushed. "You can always come here, back to my house in Beacon Hills, all you have to do is say the word."

"Yeah, maybe one day."

"Shit's pretty hectic here." Sydney let out another soft sigh. "I could really use your help, I have no idea what I'm doing."

"I'm sure you're fine." Derek's voice picked up slightly, he sounded a little more encouraging than he had about ten seconds earlier. "Remember, you're not weak, not even close."

"I guess but I still have no idea what I'm doing. I have a pack that looks to me for direction and sometimes I'm not sure I'm making the right decisions for them, or Bruin. Derek, this being an alpha thing is hard." Sydney confessed.

"You're speaking to 'alpha of the year' remember?" He joked and even let out a soothing chuckle. "So long as you don't drive your betas away, then I'd say you're doing a standup job."

Sydney hummed in response and considered what he was saying to her. She was already starting to feel a tad bit better about the whole thing but she still wasn't entirely sure how to handle the whole Dread Doctors situation, or the beast for that matter. If they hadn't targeted her pack directly, was she supposed to put herself in their way, was she supposed to help outsiders, even if it meant putting her own pack in the thick of things?

"Isaac's back." Sydney breathed the words out. "And so is Deucalion."

"Deucalion?"

"Yeah, Theo's currently got him locked up in his lair, at least that's what we're calling it, it's really more like an abandoned building in some rundown part of town. Aidan and I tracked Deucalion's scent there last night, we were in the same room with him, we were talking to him, and we left him there." Sydney explained.

"You left him in Theo's lair?" Derek countered, clearly very confused. "What were you supposed to do?"

"I don't know. He said he wanted to stay, that he wasn't done with Theo, so we just left him. I don't think I ever intended to set him free." Sydney admitted. "He's not trustworthy and I certainly wouldn't want him running around in Beacon Hills, not when I have Bruin to protect. God, what if he ever found out about her, what if he wanted to hurt her, what if-"

"Syd," Derek cut her off and sucked in a breath, "you did what you thought was right, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And you were thinking of your pack, most importantly your daughter?"

"Of course." Sydney let out a frustrated growl. "I don't want anything to hurt my pack."

"Then don't you think maybe you did the best thing for everyone involved?" Derek pressed.

Sydney tipped her head back and peered up at the ceiling before wiggling her thumb in Bruin's hold. The baby let out a contented coo and Sydney couldn't contain the smile growing on her face.

"Yes, yes I do." She said, her tone barely louder than a whisper. "I still wish you were here though."

"I'm starting to wish I was there too." Derek confessed. "Look, maybe I'll consider heading your way, even if it's just to stop by and meet my baby cousin- that's weird, so weird."

"Yeah." Sydney let out a chuckle. "So very, very weird. We can just pretend that she's not technically your cousin, if that makes you feel better?"

"I'll have to think about that." He jeered. "Look, are you good, are you okay if I hang up now?"

"I think so." She nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "I really hope you come see us soon."

"For now, you could just send me a picture of the two of you, I do miss you Syd, no matter what happened between us, or what happens in the future, you'll always be my best friend."

"You'll always be mine too Derek. I'll send a picture your way as soon as I hang up." Sydney stated. "Talk to you later, right?"

"Of course, I'm always here for you."

"Good." She smiled wider. "Bye Derek."

"Bye Syd."

She pulled the phone away from her ear, ended the call and pulled up the camera function. Leaning in close to Bruin, she lifted the device out as far as she could, pressed her lips against the side of Bruin's head and hit the button to capture the photo. Without hesitating for a second, she sent it to Derek and then set her phone on the bed next to her. She had some time before Isaac was due to arrive back at the house and she wanted to spend it lying beside her daughter.

She didn't know how much time she had before the storm hit and the current calm was leaving her on edge. Things were going to get very bad, very soon, and she dreaded when that happened.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

The walk with Isaac had been quiet, Charlie had simply been enjoying the feeling of his fingers intertwined with hers and when they reached the school, it felt like time had passed way too quickly for her liking. She hadn't wanted their walk to end, she hadn't wanted to actually arrive at school and she certainly hadn't wanted to have to say goodbye to Isaac and watch him retreat back to her house where she knew he'd try really hard to beat up on the twins and most likely fail.

It wasn't that she didn't have faith that Isaac was strong and skilled but she knew, oh how she knew, that the twins were two of the hardest working betas that she had ever laid eyes on. It was nice for her though; it meant that her entire pack was stronger than any other pack that she had ever laid eyes on before.

Standing next to Isaac at the edge of the parking lot, she looked up at him and forced a smile onto her face, hoping that he wouldn't call her out on her abnormal heartbeat. She was nervous for how his day would turn out, she didn't want him to get hurt, nor did she want him to hurt the twins, but she wouldn't be able to witness any of it and she'd have to rely on Sydney to keep the peace. But Sydney was only one person, who also had a baby to look after, all it would take was one single distraction who's name was Bruin.

"Be careful." Charlie murmured and lifted her hand up, running her fingers along Isaac's jaw. "Do what Syd says, okay?"

"She's not technically my alpha." Isaac pointed out but Charlie merely scowled at him in response.

"Fair enough but she knows what she's doing." Charlie remarked and shook her head, trying to keep herself composed. If it had been up to her, she would've skipped school completely and spent the day training with her pack, keeping a close eye on Isaac and the twins, but it wasn't up to her and she knew that she couldn't just abandon school, especially not when there was a bigger threat out there, a threat in the form of the beast. And that wasn't even dredging up everything pertaining to Theo Raeken and his band of misfits."You be careful too." Isaac responded and turned to face her head on. She tipped her head back and looked up into his eyes, holding his gaze while his hands moved upwards, cupping her face and holding her steady in front of him. She held her breath and watched as he closed the distance between their lips, pressing his against hers in a gentle, soothing kiss, her eyes falling shut at the feeling. She didn't want him to pull away but when he did, she let out a soft moan of protest and let him take a step back, his hands falling away from her and dangling at his sides.

"I'll see you later." She murmured and tensed at the sound of a low whistle sounding out from behind Isaac. He turned his head around and caught sight of two younger boys staring at them, glaring right back at them in response but Charlie just ran her hand down his arm and gave his wrist a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "I know them, that's Mason, from the library clean up, and Corey, they're friends."

"Yeah?' Isaac cocked his head to the side but when neither boy made a move to get closer to him and Charlie, a smile took over his features. "If you say so."

"I say so." Charlie rolled her eyes at him, reached up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then brushed past him whispering a goodbye.

She didn't turn back until she was standing next to Mason and only then did she catch sight of Isaac walking away from the school, disappearing down the street as he headed back for Sydney's house. Mason looked sideways at her and she refused to meet his gaze, knowing that he had just seen their kiss.

"Seems like you and lover boy are getting on quite fine." Mason remarked and Charlie cocked her head to the side, stealing a glance at Mason who shot her a knowing look. "Hey, it's cool, I just like seeing you happy."

"I could say the same about you." Charlie stated and motioned her hand in the direction of Corey, who was standing on Mason's other side. "I assume you two are on the same side now?"

"Yeah, actually, we were just talking about the beast." Corey piped up. "Mason seems to have a theory on it."

"And what theory is that?" Charlie asked and slipped her arm through Mason's, holding on to him for support. Mason pointed towards the parking lot, but a different part of the parking lot from where Charlie had just said her goodbyes to Isaac.

When she followed the direction that he was wanting her to look in, she spotted Brett standing in front of a news van with some fancy pants reporter talking to him. He seemed comfortable, almost as though he was born to be on television, and as much as Charlie wanted to, she could _not_ pull her eyes off of the werewolf standing in front of her eyes.

"It's frequency, every time the Beast shows up." Mason started off and Charlie was right there, ready to hang on to his every word. "Liam and Hayden saw it at the cell transmission towers; the attack downtown happened right near the radio astronomy observatory; Deaton was attacked by the Beast at an army base which has huge radar arrays."

"I'm still not getting it though." Corey confessed and Charlie took Mason's words to heart. Frequency, he was talking about frequency, which meant that the Beast was someone related to frequencies, but what exactly did he mean?

"The Beast always shows up near a transmission source." Mason explained. "What if that's how the Dread Doctors are doing it? By broadcasting a high-frequency transmission."

"Just like them?" Charlie threw in and Mason looked at her with a nod of approval.

"So we should be looking for some sort of transmission?" Corey quipped, still clearly confused.

"We don't have to look." Mason countered and pointed right back to where Brett was standing, talking to the news reporter. Charlie watched him for a few seconds, listening to him talk about the charity lacrosse game that was apparently happening that night.

A charity lacrosse game, huh, well that was the first that Charlie had ever heard of it, but then again, it wasn't like she was paying all that much attention to the events going on at the school, not when she had Isaac with her in Beacon Hills, not when there was a giant beast going around town, not when Theo Raeken was still on the loose and especially not when the Dread Doctors were still alive. Yes, she had a lot more important things to worry about, rather than some stupid lacrosse game, plus it wasn't like she was into watching sports all that much anyways.

"A charity game." Charlie scoffed with a shake of her head. "And the local news is going to broadcast it, sounds a little extreme to me, especially when we're talking lacrosse. Where I come from, that's hardly even considered a sport."

"The local news always covers the game." Mason replied with an amused huff. "There could be two, maybe three vans, all of them transmitting."

"Frequency." Charlie said with a nod. "The beast is going to be there tonight, isn't it?"

"Wait?" Corey piped up and looked between Charlie and Mason. "Are you saying that _thing's_ going to be out there _tonight_?"

"I'm saying people are going to die." Mason replied, his eyes locked on to the vans. "A lot of people."

"Well we're not going to just _let_ that happen, right? You have a plan, don't you?' Charlie nudged Mason's side with her elbow and he slowly nodded his head yes, almost as though he was thinking of the very plan that he was going to tell her about momentarily. "Whatever it is, I'm in, if you need me."

"I think we're going to need all the help we can get." Mason replied stoically, Charlie didn't bother responding to him. She simply held her breath and prayed that no one was going to die at the game.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Oooh a little Derek and Syd friendship time, what do you guys think?_**


	55. Chapter 55

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 55** **:**_

Charlie's mind constantly drifted back to Isaac. It wasn't like she wanted nothing more than to lay her eyes on him, no, she was more concerned with how the training was going. She knew how fierce the twins could be, she knew how vicious Sydney could get, but Isaac didn't seem like the kind of person who'd unleash his inner beast, unless the situation desperately called for it.

Was he currently sparring with the twins? Were they kicking his butt and driving Isaac to the brink of frustration? Were they maybe going easy on him, letting him beat them up so that he could actually work out some of the aggression he held for them because of what had happened to Boyd and Erica?

What about Sydney? Was she letting the three boys just go at it? Would she step in if she thought it was getting too rough between them?

Charlie shook her head and tried to bring her focus back to the task at hand. There was still a giant beast wandering loose in Beacon Hills that needed to be stopped, and there was a charity lacrosse game happening at the school that night, which Mason seemed to think was the intended target.

Looking around the table, Charlie took in the sight of Lydia at the opposite end of the table from her. Liam and Stiles sat along one side while Scott stood over a chair on the opposite side from the two boys. She hadn't said much to them since meeting up in the library but she didn't know exactly what she was _supposed_ to say. This sort of thing wasn't her forté, it was theirs and maybe even Sydney's but fighting supernatural enemies, plotting against them, wasn't something that Charlie was all that familiar with.

"Mason said it's not just to transmit frequency. It's high powered, like is has to be a really strong signal." Liam explained, and Charlie remained quiet in her seat at the opposite end of the table to Lydia. She shook her head and tried to keep her attention focused on the threat that was the beast. She had her cell phone out and resting on the table in front of her, waiting for someone, anyone to text her from her house. She was half anticipating Isaac to contact her and let her know how training was going, and she was also expecting Sydney to contact her, hopefully by sending her a picture of Isaac and the pack having a grand old time.

Either way, she was waiting for someone back home to tell her how training was going, but so far, there was nothing. She sort of hoped for a distraction, anything was better than talking about the beast roaming around in Beacon Hills, she hated the feeling she currently had, knowing that there was something as giant and strong as the ugly black beast out there, it made her shudder at the thought of what it was capable of.

"And that's causing it to shift?" Lydia countered and brought Charlie's gaze up and away from her phone.

"No, I don't think it's just that." Scott started speaking and she turned her attention towards him, hoping to keep up with the conversation. "Last night Argent said that it's getting smarter, what if the Dread Doctors are trying to make the Beast grow faster?"

"With frequencies?" Stiles quipped.

"By force." Charlie mumbled, not totally wanting the rest of them to hear her, in case she was totally off base. It made sense to her, the Dread Doctors force the beast to shift, it learns quicker, it becomes more skilled, it made sense. If Charlie had learned anything from her time before Sydney took her into her pack, it was that she learned better by doing. What was to say the beast wasn't similar in that regard?

"No, by shifting." Scott corrected and Charlie gave him a nod. Okay, so maybe she _was_ on the right track. "The frequency is just the trigger. The important part is when it shifts into the werewolf."

"Like Peter." Lydia threw out and Charlie cocked her head to the side.

"Peter? Peter Hale?" She spoke, this time loud and clear. Lydia stared at her and slowly, as if Charlie was new to the conversation, nodded her head yes. "Okay, sorry."

"It's okay." Scott soothed and Charlie relaxed into her chair, peering at her phone with the hopes that there would be a message, but all she saw was the usual screen. "It was a fair question."

"Yeah." Charlie blew out a breath and crossed her arms over her chest. "But what does _he_ have to do with the beast?"

"Right. When Peter was an alpha, he got stronger every full moon, eventually, the burns healed and he was back to normal." Scott explained.

"The burns from the fire, right?" Charlie questioned and the entire table, minus Liam, nodded their heads yes. "Okay, so by shifting on the full moon, he regained his full strength?"

"Makes sense." Stiles waved his hand out in front of him.

"So the Dread Doctors don't want to wait for the full moon." Liam inquired, bringing the conversation back to the topic at hand. Charlie filed all of the information regarding Peter to the back of her mind and made a mental note that if she was still unclear on something, she could always bring it up to Sydney. Yes Sydney would answer her questions regarding Peter, if she had any.

"They want the Beast to be as strong as possible, as fast as possible." Scott confirmed. Okay, now things were starting to make sense. The Dread Doctors were clearly on some sort of tight schedule but what was their ultimate goal, what was their end game and _when_ were they planning on putting their plan into its final stage?

"Because of Parrish." Liam supplied. Parrish, because of Parrish?

"Why Parrish?" Charlie spoke up, looking at Scott to explain.

"Uh, because he's the hellhound, he's the one fighting the beast on the mural in the tunnels." Scott supplied and Charlie forced a smile onto her face.

"Right, of course. So he's our saving grace?" Charlie pressed.

"We don't…we don't know exactly." Stiles answered with a slight shake of his head. "All we know is that there's a good chance that the beast is going to make an appearance at the lacrosse game tonight and we need to figure out a plan."

"So if this _is_ happening tonight, what are we going to do?" Lydia asked.

"Uh, we've got one clue to go on." Stiles offered up and produced a photograph of a footprint, a bloody footprint from some sort of shoe, with a measuring tape stretched out next to it. Charlie leaned in and took a good look at it, trying to memorize the pattern for future reference. "This came from the hospital. Whoever's lurking inside the Beast is wearing a size ten of indeterminate make."

"Indeterminate?" Lydia and Charlie looked at him at the exact same time, speaking over each other.

Stiles looked between the two girls and fought off the urge to roll his eyes. It wasn't Charlie's fault that she was new to being a detective, hell, she was new to the whole situation. It wasn't like Colorado had a high rate of supernatural activity, even before her pack had been wiped out, things had been pretty calm.

"It means it's a partial print." Stiles explained quickly and in simplistic terms. "Basically, it was all we were able to get considering all the fire, blood and carnage."

"How many size tens are out there?" Scott asked, his tone low.

"Only one with Parrish's blood on the sole." Stiles replied.

"So are we going to try to get the game canceled?" Liam wondered and Charlie found herself thinking of all the possibilities that could happen that night at the game.

If the beast was most likely going to show, couldn't they set up a trap to try and catch it? But was that really a good idea? Trapping a beast sounded like a dangerous plan on a good day, but this beast was huge, and had a killer instinct that nobody seemed to understand. Was it even possible to trap it?

"No, no, we're going to play, but we're just going to _hope_ really _hard_ that it doesn't turn into a blood-soaked massacre." Stiles answered, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Har har." Charlie rolled her eyes at him, not impressed by his answer.

"Okay, but, um, aren't we kind of missing out on a chance to catch this thing? We don't have the 'who' but we have the 'where' and the 'when'." Liam pointed out.

Everyone at the table seemed to take Liam's words to heart as they too considered the possible outcomes. Were they thinking the same thing as her, were they all thinking of a way to set up a trap so that they could maybe catch the beast? Or were they all thinking of the worst possible outcome, which would be a massacre on the lacrosse field?

"So we consider setting up a trap." Charlie suggested, feeling out everyone else. "But where would we even start? Does the beast have a weakness, is it afraid of anything, would we have to use people as bait?"

"There's too many people." Scott replied with a shake of his head, effectively putting an end to the idea of baiting the beast into a trap.

"And we still don't _actually_ know _if_ it's going to happen. It just might end up being a regular lacrosse game. It's possible, right?" Lydia said.

"That's _absolutely_ possible." Stiles replied with a firm nod of his head, before he locked his eyes on Lydia.

"We're not going to take that chance, are we?" Charlie piped up. "We're not going to risk everyone's lives, right?"

She let her words sink in with the rest of the gang gathered around the table, each and every one of them was listening to her, understanding her concern, but no one seemed to want to say anything to her in response. Were they actually considering not trying to get the game canceled, did they have some sort of other idea that would be put into play?

"So we're still getting the game canceled?" Liam asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over them, Charlie letting out a soft sigh of relief as Scott moved over to grab his backpack.

"We're getting the game canceled." Scott agreed all too quickly.

Charlie swiped her phone off the table, peered at the empty screen and shook her head. She fell in line behind Liam and made a move to follow them, Lydia coming up behind her, but at the sound of Lydia's footsteps stopping, Charlie paused too, turning back to face the strawberry blonde.

Lydia turned to the left, a confused expression on her face, and Charlie took in a whiff of the air. Something didn't smell right, something felt off. Instead of taking off after the rest of the boys, she moved closely behind Lydia as the girl wandered over to one of the aisles of books, stopping a few feet away from one of the books that was lying open on the floor.

Lydia dropped to one knee next to it and studied the picture on the left side of the book, Charlie leaning over her and taking in the sight of a large black wolf-like animal being speared by a man. There were a few other animals in the picture as well but none of them seemed to be in the way of getting hurt.

Reaching a hand out, Lydia ran a finger over the bottom of the book and Charlie smelled it before she heard it.

"Lydia."

Well that sounded an awful lot like Jordan Parrish and it certainly smelled like burning. What the hell was he doing here?

Turning her head sideways, Lydia doing the same, they locked their eyes on the man in question, who seemed to be struggling to breathe easy. Lydia, without question, took off for the next aisle of books while Charlie followed right behind her, looking down at the nearly naked deputy who had deep cuts and gouges all over his body. They were a bright red colour and most of them were trickling with blood, blood that she could now smell, and boy was it putrid.

"Deputy?" Charlie cocked her head to the side and squatted down next to him as Lydia crouched down too, setting her hand on his thigh. "Give me your hand."

Charlie felt him grip her hand lightly and as soon as they had contact, she began drawing out his pain, hoping that it would be enough to keep him going until they could get to someone who could better help him. Charlie watched as his eyes fluttered shut and a soft sigh escaped over Parrish's lips, apparently she was helping him more than she really knew.

"Thanks." The deputy murmured and Charlie nodded her head, not breaking the hold she had on his hand. She produced her cell phone and handed it to Lydia, who looked at her like she had six heads.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Lydia questioned and Charlie's lips turned up into a smile.

"Dial Syd for me, I can talk to her, but she might know what we can do with the deputy here, where we can take him even." Charlie explained and Lydia shook her head but quickly did as she was told. Charlie took the phone in her hand, lifted it up to her ear and waited for Sydney to answer.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Isaac was holding his own against the twins, so much so that Sydney had been wondering whether or not Aidan and Ethan were going full out with the younger man. She wanted to believe that Isaac was legitimately that good but she also knew that her twins were fierce and showed no man any mercy. When Isaac deflected Aidan's next move, throwing him to the ground, she widened her eyes and watched as Aidan rolled on the ground on his back, trying to get air into his lungs.

Had Isaac really just winded Aidan? Had Isaac Lahey, Derek's former beta, and current omega, actually just managed to lay Aidan out?

"Get up." Sydney grumbled from her spot on the lawn. She had a blanket spread out underneath her and Bruin in her arms cooing softly. "Please get up Aidan."

As if by sheer force of will on her part, Aidan slowly rolled over onto his side and managed to get himself to his knees, all the while Isaac stood poised and ready to attack right next to him. Ethan let out a low whistle, drawing Isaac's attention towards him, and without warning, Ethan sprang, leaping into the air and heading right for Isaac.

Sydney held her breath but when Isaac deflected Ethan's attempt to drive his body to the ground, she let out a yelp and watched helplessly as Ethan went sailing backwards. His back collided with the mountain ash barrier around the backyard and he slumped to the ground, letting out a raspy breath as he did so.

"The hell you guys!" Sydney called out and got to her feet carefully, clutching Bruin against her chest. She looked between her two betas and then locked her eyes on Isaac, who was standing in the middle of the backyard with a smug smile on his face. "You and me Lahey."

"Yeah?" Isaac looked at her with a determined sparkle in his eye. Sydney wandered over towards Aidan, who had made it to his feet by this point, and gingerly handed Bruin off to him. He took the baby and let her settle in against his chest, then he sauntered over towards the blanket and carefully dropped down to sit on it, Ethan moseying over to join him.

Sydney closed in on Isaac and took up a stance in front of him, looking at him with a glare. She forced out her alpha red irises and he matched hers with his golden ones, which only caused her to let out a scoff. He had no idea what it was like to take a life, he had no idea what it meant to fight for his own life, he had no idea what it felt like to have to choose between their life and yours.

"If you want me to stop, at any point, just say 'uncle'." Sydney growled and Isaac gave her a nod of understanding. He lowered his hips towards the ground and prepared himself for her to make the first move but she started circling him instead.

She didn't lunge for him, she didn't dive forward in an attempt to knock him off balance, no, she stepped around him, taking in the sight of him in front of her. Isaac sucked in a breath, leaned back on his heels and pushed off, jumping right for her. She was quick though, too quick for him, and she easily moved out of the way, Isaac's feet impacting the ground as he let out a grunt.

She cocked her head to the side and waved him forward, but Isaac didn't take the bait, no, he remained in front of her, waiting for her to make the next move. She smirked at him and took one step closer, Isaac making an attempt to hold his position in front of her, but when she lunged forward, her arms open and connecting with his mid section, she forced him back and brought him to the ground.

Getting to her feet, she loomed over him, lifted her foot up and pressed it against his chest, holding him down so that he couldn't just get up. Isaac's hands wrapped around her ankle but she didn't budge. When he tried to twist her foot, she just put more pressure on his chest, feeling the bones compressing under the pressure. She knew it wouldn't take much more force before she heard something break but she wasn't sure she wanted to take it to that level just yet. Isaac had a lot more to show her.

Without a word, she jumped back and let him get to his feet, brushing the dirt off his backside. He met her eyes, which were still glowing red, and before he could make a move, she took off in a run to the side, making her way towards the mountain ash barrier.

She stopped just in front of it and when Isaac jumped at her, she ducked in time to hear him impact the barrier and fall to the ground, much like Ethan had done minutes before. With a laugh, Sydney moved forward on the ground and stood up, glancing over her shoulder and catching sight of Isaac scowling at her.

"What's the matter Lahey?" She teased and Isaac stumbled to his feet. She didn't turn to face him though, she kept her back to him and shut her eyes, listening to his heartbeat, honing in on his movements.

She heard him grunt, she heard his frantic footsteps moving towards her but before he had a chance to lay a hit on her, she whipped around on her heels, lifted her one leg up and drove the ball of her foot into his chest. Isaac collapsed to the ground and remained there, lifting his hands up in surrender as Sydney started to laugh.

"Uncle." Isaac muttered and Sydney bent over, offering him her hand. He took it and she hauled him to his feet, looking him up and down to make sure that he was unharmed, for the most part. "You win."

"I _always_ win." Sydney shook her head at him. "But you're not so bad, with a little work, we could get you up to par with the rest of the Vance pack."

"Yeah, well Chris taught me a few tricks." Isaac said as he nodded his head. "Everyone just assumes that he took me over to France and left me there."

"With a baguette." Sydney added.

"With a…what?" Isaac narrowed his eyes in on her.

"We all assumed he left you over in France with nothing more than a baguette and possibly a bottle of wine." Sydney teased and Isaac rolled his eyes at her in response. "Joking, Jesus."

"Oh." Isaac blew out a breath and Sydney began wandering over towards the blanket. She waved him forward and when the two of them were near the twins, and Bruin, they sat down. "I guess I never really thought about how it would look to other people."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Sydney shrugged and she took hold of Bruin, cradling the girl against her chest. "We all just want you to be happy, even if you don't believe it. If you want to be in my pack, that's great but if you don't, if there's someone else you'd rather have as an alpha, I'm not going to hold it against you."

"Really?"

"Nope." Sydney shook her head. "You have to find a place that feels right to you, hell, if that means you go back over to France, or stick with Chris, then that's just fine by me. You're perfectly capable in my books and I'd love to have you though, if that's something you'd want."

"Yeah, I still don't know." Isaac looked from Sydney to Bruin and then to either twin. "I still need some time."

Sydney gave him a knowing nod and a silence fell over them. It wasn't until Sydney's phone, which had been residing on the corner of the blanket, started ringing that anyone made a move, or said a word. Nabbing the device, Sydney looked at the screen and a smile took over her face, was this Charlie checking in, was she calling to make sure they hadn't hurt Isaac too bad?

Hitting the answer button, Sydney held the phone against her ear, "hello?"

"Hey Syd!" Charlie's voice sounded panicked and she immediately knew that this wasn't just Charlie checking in, no, this was something much worse. "We need your help, Lydia and I are in the library with Parrish and he's all…he's all scratched up and bleeding."

"In the library, why's he in the library?" Sydney countered but shook her head, they had more important things to worry about, like getting him out of the public eye and somewhere safer. "Never mind, uh, is he hurt too much to walk?"

"Uh, hang on," Sydney listened carefully as Charlie asked the deputy if he could walk, she heard him answer 'I think so' and then Charlie came back on the line, "he thinks he can, where are we supposed to take him though? Did you want me to bring him home?"

"Chris." Isaac perked up. "They can take him to Chris, he might know how to help, unless you do."

"No, that's good. Charlie, take him to Chris, can you do that?" Sydney suggested and gave an appreciative smile in Isaac's direction. She would've had no qualms about helping out the deputy but she wasn't entirely sure what to do to make that happen. If Isaac believed that Chris might have an idea on how to help, then that sounded like a decent solution to her. "Did you need one of us to come and help?"

"Uh, no, I think we're good." Charlie answered hesitantly. "If I change my mind though, I'll call you."

"Of course." Sydney bowed her head and stole a look at Bruin. "Be safe okay."

"You too, and go easy on Isaac, you haven't killed him yet, have you?" Charlie was trying to joke and Sydney figured it was only so that the situation seemed less dire on her end. "He's still breathing, right?"

"Yeah, he is. We're all good here." Sydney sighed and listened for a few seconds longer before Charlie hung up the phone. Sydney moved the device away from her ear and clutched it against her chest, silently praying that Jordan Parrish would be okay. She didn't want anyone else to get hurt, especially not one of her close friends.

"All good?" Isaac pressed and set his palm on her wrist gently. "Did you want me to go meet them at Chris'?"

"Only if you want to." Sydney replied softly. "If not, we can get back to training."

Isaac seemed to consider her offer for a few seconds before a small smile appeared on his face, "I think I'd like that."

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Isaac and Sydney...future best friends?_**


	56. Chapter 56

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 56** **:**_

Making sure that her pack was fed come lunchtime was something that Sydney seemed to enjoy doing. Ethan had been holding on to Bruin as Sydney made her bottle and even when she had thrown together a platter of grilled cheese, Bruin remained in Ethan's hold, content as could be.

When Sydney finally sat down at the table between Ethan and Isaac, she stole Bruin from her beta's hold and took over feeding her, watching as the three boys dug in to the lunch that she had made for them. This was calm, it was nice and she found herself rather enjoying Isaac's presence in her home. He seemed to be fitting in rather well and she knew that if it hadn't been for the torrid past between him and the twins, that Isaac would've jumped at the chance to be a part of her pack.

Charlie had called back once her and Lydia had gotten Jordan to Chris' place and informed Sydney that she was headed back to school, leaving Lydia to look after the deputy. She had spoken with Isaac on the phone as well and, after being assured that he was well taken care of, she had hung up and left them all to their own devices.

"Hypothetically, if I _did_ join your pack," Isaac started as he worked on chewing his current bite of grilled cheese, "where would I stay?"

"We could find you some room in the house, but we're not completely sure this is where we're going to be staying." Sydney answered and Isaac stared at her, not understanding what she was talking about. "Well I'm from Colorado, and so is Charlie, and I have a place there too. If things here don't work out, or if we all decide as a pack that we'd rather go back to Colorado, well, it's a very real possibility. If you're considering choosing me as your alpha, you should know that it's an option."

"Colorado." Isaac hummed the word and took a few seconds to consider what that meant for him. "There aren't as many weird things there, right?"

"Uh, not that I know of." Sydney shook her head. "As far as I'm aware, it's just my pack that has a presence where we're from. We stayed there for a few months and nothing bad happened to us, not like Beacon Hills anyways."

Isaac didn't say anything in response just yet, he merely looked at Sydney and studied her, wondering what it would truly mean for him if he agreed to be a part of her pack. His other option was Scott and while Scott was a very good choice in alpha, Isaac wasn't so sure he was ready to make a commitment as big as being part of Scott's pack.

When he had been in Beacon Hills, there was far too much adventure for him and now that Sydney had just confessed that she wasn't even sure her and her pack would be staying in California, Isaac was a little curious as to what life in Colorado would be like. If it was going to be somewhat calm and relaxing then that sounded sort of nice to Isaac, plus he wouldn't be alone, he'd have a pack. Even if he didn't exactly trust the twins, it wasn't like they were under the same command as the alpha that had terrorized the town before.

Sydney didn't seem like the kind of person who would go after another pack unless it directly threatened her. Deucalion had done just that, he had gone after Derek, had wanted Derek to become part of his pack with Ennis, Kali and the twins. Sydney seemed a little more reasonable, plus she had a baby, she had a little girl to look after, in his head, a mother like Sydney wouldn't start a war if she didn't have to.

"We literally spent months in Colorado without anything too major happening." Ethan piped up, breaking into the conversation. "We've been back here for a few weeks and already we're right back into the middle of chaos."

"No kidding." Isaac mumbled and shook his head. "This place is a danger to everyone."

"We should just light the whole town on fire." Sydney muttered and suddenly all eyes were on her. She shook her head and forced a nervous chuckle out of her throat. "Maybe that's a little drastic, yeah?"

"Just a little." Aidan nodded.

Sydney felt a smile taking up residence on her face and before she knew it, she was laughing genuinely at the whole situation. Beacon Hills was a danger to everyone that lived in the town yet no one seemed concerned enough to leave, including Sydney herself. None of her betas had mentioned leaving, not in a serious manner, and at that thought, Sydney found herself wondering what the hell they were thinking.

Leaving Beacon Hills was almost a guaranteed extension to their lives yet no one seemed bothered by remaining in the town. Even when Sydney had announced that they were packing up and heading _to_ Beacon Hills _from_ Colorado, not one of her pack members put up a fuss at all.

"You picked a real good time to come back." Sydney teased, looking directly at Isaac. "You should've stayed in France and we all should've gone over there to visit you while the Dread Doctors worked on their little experiments and wrecked havoc all over this hellhole of a town."

"France is nice." Isaac nodded with a chuckle.

A comfortable silence fell over everyone at the table and Sydney even managed to nab a piece of a grilled cheese off the platter after Bruin had finished with her bottle. She munched away on it happily while taking in the sight of Isaac and the twins seemingly getting along. She could still sense a lot of tension between them, but she expected that. Just because she had welcomed them into her pack after they had done what they had done, didn't mean everyone else was as accepting of them as she was. Isaac had every right to be wary of them and she didn't blame him one bit.

When a car horn echoed into the kitchen from outside, Sydney sucked in a deep breath of air and tried to pinpoint who was in her driveway by smell. She could pick up on hints of Stiles and Scott and immediately she knew that whatever they needed from her was going to be something pretty huge, and most likely something complicated.

"I'll be right back." Sydney shook her head at the sudden appearance of the two boys and promptly handed Bruin off to Ethan before heading for the front door.

She pulled it open and stepped outside, hanging out on the porch for a few seconds before she marched down the steps and wandered up to the side of the jeep, leaning against the door belonging to Stiles. He met her gaze and forced a smile onto his face, watching as Sydney cocked her head to the side in confusion.

Why was he here? What did he want?

She lifted her hand into the air and tossed Scott a small wave, then she looked directly at Stiles, waiting for him to ask what he needed to ask of her.

"Coach is in rehab." Stiles announced and Sydney nodded at him to go on. "But we need him _out_ of rehab so that he can coach the charity lacrosse game tonight."

"Why?" She barked, her tone sounding harsher than she had intended. This wasn't something she wanted to hear about, this wasn't something she wanted to deal with, she had wanted to spend the afternoon with her pack, getting to know Isaac and maybe having a nap when everything had settled down. This wasn't in the cards, not even close.

"Well no, we actually need him to uh, to forfeit the game because we think that the beast might show up." Stiles corrected himself and gripped the steering wheel with both hands, his gaze flitting away from hers. "If we can get him to coach, we can get him to forfeit and then the field will be empty and not full of helpless teenagers who have no idea what sort of dangerous creatures are out there lurking in the dark."

"And if we have you, then we're hoping that Coach is a little more willing to agree to help us." Scott added in and Sydney sucked in a nervous breath. "You can totally say no, we just thought that maybe he'd be-"

"Easier to get to comply? You want me to use my womanly ways to get him to agree to help you guys?" Sydney cut in and looked from Stiles to Scott and then back to Stiles.

"He likes you." Stiles scoffed. "A lot, I mean, can we blame him here, you're a good-looking-"

"Stop right there." Sydney lifted her hand up, effectively silencing Stiles. She shook her head at him and forced an awkward laugh out, letting it hang between them. "Don't talk about me like that, it's weird, and uncomfortable."

"Okay, yeah, fine, but Coach _does_ like you." Stiles nodded.

"I know." She giggled. "But isn't there an easier way? Instead of forfeiting, can't you, I don't know, get the game postponed, or canceled?"

"We tried." Scott smiled.

"We couldn't get my dad to cancel the game." Stiles explained and Sydney leveled them both with a glare. "Apparently it's not within his power."

"As the sheriff?" Sydney countered with a roll of her eyes. "The sheriff can't cancel a _high school_ lacrosse game?"

"Seems not." Stiles shook his head. "Not to fear though, we have a plan, a plan that we need your help with, so please, get in the jeep so that we can put this plan into motion and get Coach out of rehab."

"Give me a few minutes, I need to go tell my betas what's going on, and I have to explain to my little girl why mommy's running off again." Sydney said, a sarcastic tone lacing her voice. "Just hang on."

"Bruin's a baby Syd, she doesn't even _know_ what's going on." Stiles argued and Sydney pushed herself away from the jeep. "You can leave and come back and she won't even realize you left."

"Just give me a minute." Sydney growled and retreated back into the house, leaving Stiles and Scott sitting in the driveway.

What she wouldn't give for just one normal day in Beacon Hills.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney trailed along just behind the two boys as they wandered towards the front door of the rehab center from the parking lot. She tucked her hands into the pockets on her leather jacket and stole a quick look at the front of the building; it looked clean, well kept, and exactly the opposite of what she was figuring the rehab place would look like, but nonetheless, she didn't say a word, she didn't voice her opinion, she just remained quiet and prayed that this wouldn't turn out to be a total disaster.

It was just another brick building mixed amoung the rest of the buildings nearby and if it hadn't been for the words scrawled on the glass of the front of the door in turquoise reading 'Stepping Stones', she never would've imagined that the building they were walking towards was anything out of the ordinary. She rolled her eyes but kept pace with the boys as they came to a stop in front of the window, peering inside as they tried to locate Coach Finstock without actually walking into the building just yet.

Scott's finger tapped against the glass roughly and Sydney stole a look inside too, following where the true alpha was pointing and immediately found herself locking her eyes on the very man in question. Bobby Finstock was lying on a coach in the middle of what looked like a lobby, his head tipped back pretty far on the back of the couch and his body was clearly unmoving.

"Oh, my." Stiles muttered with a shake of his head, Sydney snorting in amusement at the sight of the man who had once been very animated and vocal the last time that she had laid eyes on him. This was quite the change in character.

It was certainly a sight to see Bobby Finstock quiet and unmoving, which only caused Sydney to feel a little more concerned about the man than she had laid eyes on all of ten seconds ago. What was really wrong with him, why wasn't he acting like himself? Had something happened to him while he was in rehab to change his entire demeanor? Had something set him off, thrown him for a loop and had legitimately driven him to the brink before pushing him over the edge?

Stiles backed away from the window and wrapped his fingers around the handle of the door, pulling it open and ushering Scott inside before he waved Sydney forward too. She stepped through the door and once she was inside the rehab facility, she hung back for a split second and waited and when Stiles was right next to her, she walked forward alongside with him, not wanting to get too far away from the boys that had brought her here in the first place.

"What is he doing?" Stiles whispered, an incredulous tone to his voice. Was Stiles just as concerned about Coach Finstock as Sydney was starting to feel?

The two boys continued heading right for him, Sydney walking with them, and when they got close enough to Coach, each boy took up a stance at opposite ends of the couch that the man was sitting on. Scott pressed his palms against the armrest and leaned in closer to the man while Stiles hesitantly took a seat on the man's left side, sitting right next to him with little space between their bodies.

Sydney wandered around the small coffee table and took a seat on the second couch directly across from the man who looked completely comatose. She studied the blank look on his face and hoped that she could get through to him soon. She didn't want there to be anything wrong with him, but it had been a long time since she had seen him last. Lots of things could've happened, lots of _bad_ things.

She dropped her eyes away from him and took in the sight of the game set up on the table between her and him. There was a chess game set up on the surface of the table and Sydney's eyes fell to the pieces, which had obviously been moved from their starting position, whoever had been playing was apparently in the middle of a game, yet no one, except for Coach Finstock, seemed to be anywhere near the game.

This was a chess game that wasn't quite over yet, but where were the players?

"What?" Stiles gaped taking in the strange sight in front of him. Coach Finstock still hadn't moved, even as the boys stood and sat right next to him.

"Hey, Coach, it's Scott and Stiles." Scott murmured soothingly, then he too took a seat on the couch, on the opposite side of Coach Finstock as Stiles.

Stiles locked his eyes on the man and lifted his hand up, waving it back and forth in front of Coach's face, clearly trying to get his attention, to snap him out of whatever sort of trance he was in. The man didn't move though, he didn't even blink, but Sydney could hear his heartbeat, it was loud and steady, which just served to prove that he wasn't dead. Phew, that was a good sign, and it wasn't like he smelled…that bad.

"Coach, you're in rehab. You didn't have a lobotomy." Stiles remarked and Sydney made herself comfortable on the couch across from them. She let out a chuckle as Scott continued to study the man's face, including the lost look that was etched there.

"Coach?" Scott prodded and Stiles slapped his thigh in frustration at the lack of response from the man between them. Without thinking though, Stiles turned his attention to the chess pieces set up on the board, reaching a hand out to make a grab for one of them.

Before he could wrap his fingers around any of the pieces, Coach's hand shot out, his fingers wrapping tightly around Stiles' wrist, preventing him from moving any closer to the game and apparently messing up whatever he had going for him. Sydney leaned forward and shook her head in amusement, even letting out a snort as Coach Finstock took a look at the three people who had come to see him, a particularly awkward smile was directed at her and Sydney forced a smile back at him.

"Don't you touch it." Coach Finstock grumbled and carefully turned his head towards Stiles, who shook his head in disbelief. "I've got Nurse Gonzalez by the balls the last three moves and she knows it."

Coach cautiously sat up, his smile turning into a giant one that was currently crossing his face at the mentioning of the nurse, who Sydney could only assume was a decent looking woman. Why else would he have pretended to be comatose? Why else would he have taken a simple board game so seriously?

"Checkmate." Sydney chuckled and pressed the tip of her index finger against the top of the black knight, drawing Coach Finstock's attention towards her. He tilted his head sideways and studied the young, beautiful woman that had tagged along with the two delinquents who had come to visit him.

"Let it go." Stiles countered, ignoring Sydney's remark all together, while Coach Finstock tried to shush him. "You're checking out of this place _now_."

"Not a chance." Finstock argued.

"Not even for me?' Sydney purred and moved her finger away from the knight, crossing her arms under her breasts and hoping that Finstock's eyes were right where she wanted them. She could distract, she could flirt, so long as the man sitting across from her agreed to coach the charity lacrosse game, and then forfeit said game, then she'd do whatever she could to help.

If it meant saving lives, she'd put on a show for the man.

"For you?" Coach Finstock looked her up and down, all the while Sydney held her breath, hoping that they could get him to agree to come with them without putting up too much of a fight. "I'd maybe consider it, but you've got to understand, Nurse Gonzalez is-"

"Okay, Coach." Scott cut in, before he could say something crude or vulgar. "But, _we_ know you're fine."

Coach Finstock shushed them even louder this time, making it fairly obvious that he wasn't ready to leave, for whatever reason. Sydney shook her head but maintained her focus on him, not wanting to lose his attention completely. She could compete with Nurse Gonzalez, she could hold the man's attention just as well as she could, right?

"I have a debilitating disease," he lifted his hand up towards his mouth and mimicked drinking from a glass, "it's called 'I'm not going to take another arrow to my _stomach_ -phobia', look it up."

"One time." Sydney scoffed. "And you're fine, see, hardly a mark on that chiseled body of yours."

"Plus, nobody's shooting arrows at anyone, okay? We just need you to coach the charity game." Scott supplied, while Stiles gave the man's shoulder a reassuring pat.

"Okay." Stiles soothed.

"Charity?" Finstock scoffed. "Not a chance."

"It's for a good cause." Sydney murmured.

"How exactly have you been conning them into letting you stay here anyways?" Stiles quipped.

"I, uh I have relapses." Coach Finstock said, shaking his head. "It's-it's serious. I've had seven of them."

Relapses, seven relapses? Was this guy for real? Sydney shook her head at him again but bit back the urge to smirk at him. He certainly knew how to play the system and in all honesty, it wasn't like she could blame him. If she had been in his position, if she had taken the arrow to the stomach, she would've been a little fearful of the outside world too, especially if she didn't know about the supernatural, just like him.

Rehab seemed like a safe place for him to be and part of her felt bad for trying to get him to leave just so he could coach the charity game that night. But her mind wandered to all of the people that could die if they didn't get him to agree to help them, if they didn't get him out of there and onto the field to forfeit the game.

"So once a month?" Scott quipped.

"Yeah, you see, uh, every time they are just about to discharge me," Coach Finstock folded his hands together and gave a little tisk sound, "I relapse."

"No one's noticed that pattern?" Stiles countered, shaking his head in disgust.

"I have phenomenal health insurance. So why don't you guys get the hell out of here, I hate charity games. They're meaningless." Coach Finstock argued, clearly not ready to budge on the issue. He looked at Sydney though and she smiled, "you, you can stay."

"I don't think the charities would agree." Stiles remarked, brushing off his comment that had been directed at Sydney.

"What's it for this year?" Coach Finstock questioned, looking between the two boys.

"Cancer." Scott supplied.

"For or against?"

"Against, Coach." Stiles prodded. "Deeply against."

"Aren't you against cancer Coach?" Sydney piped up and uncrossed her arms. "You have to be against cancer, guy like you?"

"L- like me?" Coach Finstock stammered in response.

"Don't you want to save some lives tonight?" She cooed. "You know, I used to know some people who died from cancer and if I could've done something as brave as coach a charity game in order to help out, I totally would've. Don't you want to be that brave person? Huh coach?"

"Yeah, okay, well," he hesitated and she could see his shell was cracking. She was getting to him, she was going to get him to agree. "Still, I'm deeply not interested."

"Coach, we need you." Scott pointed out.

"I will never coach _there_ again." Finstock fired back.

"I _need_ you." Sydney whispered seductively and his eyes locked with hers. She forced a sultry smile onto her face, reached a hand out and knocked his king to the board before leaning back against the couch and making herself comfortable. "Come on _Bobby_ , do it for me?"

"Yeah Coach, can you please agree to coach the game?" Stiles threw in and she noticed he was still faltering. She could've had him, she could've finished this if Stiles hadn't spoken, ruining what she had just accomplished with him.

"Like I said, I will _never_ coach there again." Coach Finstock echoed his previous words.

"That's okay, because we don't actually need you to coach the game." Stiles pointed out, Coach flashing him with a confused look.

"We need you to forfeit." Scott explained.

"Plus you're a real good coach, the best that Beacon Hills ever had." Sydney said softly. "Don't you want to be a hero coach? Don't you want to be _my_ hero?"

Coach Finstock looked from the two boys to Sydney, holding her gaze one more time. Sydney lifted her hands up, signaling for both boys to stay quiet, in case they spoke and ruined everything yet again. Coach's eyes never left hers though and when she saw his lips turn up into a smile, she knew that he was right where she wanted him, he was eating right out of her hand.

"Are you going to be there?" Coach asked and Sydney considered her answer.

She hadn't planned on going, in fact, she had been planning on staying home with Bruin and the twins, after all, Bruin was her baby, she was her mother, it was time that Sydney took more responsibility for the little girl.

"She was planning on it." Stiles threw in and waved his hand at Sydney, obviously sensing her hesitation.

"I'll agree to coach, if you agree to _watch_ me coach." Coach proposed and Sydney sucked in a breath. She knew what she had to do, she knew she had to take his offer. "It's for charity after all."

"I'll be there." She forced the words out and tried to mask her disappointment. Apparently she had done a decent job because a smile grew on Coach Finstock's face and he nodded his head at her.

"Then I'll coach."

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 **Do you guys like the idea of Isaac joining Sydney's pack, or would he be better suited to being a part of some other pack?**

 **And what about Sydney and Coach reuniting?**


	57. Chapter 57

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 57** **:**_

With one look around at all of the people who had shown up for the charity lacrosse game, Sydney rolled her eyes and wondered what exactly she had agreed to. Charlie was right by her side and Isaac was holding onto Charlie's hand, both of them rather excited to be at the game together, but Sydney was far from excited, she would've much rather spent her night at home with Bruin

"I feel so old." Sydney muttered and Charlie let out a snort of laughter. Isaac threw a smile in the alpha's direction but kept his mouth shut. "Seriously, I'm like the oldest one here, except for maybe the coaches."

"And the news crew, some of them look pretty old." Charlie remarked with a chuckle. "Syd, kidding, okay, it's no big deal, we'll just go find a seat on the bleachers and blend in, right?"

Sydney shook her head but Charlie and Isaac continued heading right for the bleachers, leaving Sydney standing just off to the side of the field all by herself. Stealing a glance back at her beta, she sucked in a breath and wondered what the hell she had been thinking. So what if Coach Finstock had claimed that he'd coach but only if she was there, she could've lied to him, she could've backed out, but she didn't, no, she had shown up to the game and there she stood, watching the players gathering at their respective benches, with an anxious feeling building in the pit of her stomach.

This was a terrible idea, and not just on her part. There was no way that they were going to manage to stop the broadcast, and even if Scott's plan _did_ work, there were so many other things that could still go wrong, so very, very wrong.

Taking a look around at everyone nearby, Sydney spotted Stiles sitting on the end of the bench, Coach Finstock not too much further away from him. She also spotted Scott, Kira and Liam, and even though she couldn't lay her eyes on the girl, she could smell Malia not too far away.

It was when her eyes locked on Brett, the beta from Satomi's pack, that Sydney perked up. Yes, this was perfect, this was precisely what she needed, she could go over to Brett, say hi and try to casually work Samantha into the conversation. As much as she tried, the little girl would not get out of her head, and until Sydney figured out _something_ regarding Sam, then she knew she'd never rest easy.

Without putting it off any longer, Sydney marched over to Devenford's player's bench and stood a few feet away from Brett, hoping that he'd finish conversing with his teammate soon. She didn't want to interrupt, she wanted to grab his attention without too many other people noticing. After a minute, he ended the conversation and turned to face Sydney, throwing a polite smile onto his face and closing the distance between him and her.

"Let me guess, you want to know about Sam?" Brett started and Sydney blew out a breath. Was she that obvious? Was she that predictable?

"Well I mean, not that I don't care about you or your well-being but yeah." She nodded and shied away from Brett's gaze.

"Hey, it's sort of nice the way you're looking out for Sam." Brett stated, Sydney tucking her hands into the pockets on her leather jacket. She took her bottom lip in between her teeth and finally gained enough courage to look right back at Brett. "She's doing okay."

"Yeah?" Sydney cocked her head to the side and hoped that the little girl wasn't giving Satomi too much trouble.

"Satomi's trying to find anyone from her family but so far she's the only one left in her bloodline."

"Oh." Sydney's eyes widened in shock. "Is she causing trouble or anything?"

"She's a little girl, without parents, she's not exactly sunshine and rainbows but she's nothing we can't handle." Brett answered with a knowing smile. "I think the person you should be talking to is Satomi, or maybe even Sam."

"I don't…" Sydney trailed off, not entirely sure what to say to him. She pulled her hands out of her pocket and crossed them over her chest instead, trying to figure out what she wanted to accomplish by having this particular conversation with Brett. "Maybe that's a good idea."

"I can tell Satomi, I'm sure she'd love to set it up." Brett offered and Sydney couldn't find the words to reply. She gave him a nod of her head and peered back at the bleachers, spotting Charlie and Isaac who had already found a seat near the top. Jerking her thumb in their direction, she gave Brett one last nod, he smiled back at her in response, and then she took off, making her way up to join her beta and Isaac in the stands.

As soon as Sydney was sitting next to Charlie, her beta leaned against her shoulder and gave her knee a reassuring pat. It didn't take too much for Sydney to conclude that Charlie had been listening in to the conversation, she had heard every single word.

"Who's Brett exactly?" Isaac quipped and the three of them stared down at the kid that Sydney had just been talking too. Brett met Charlie's eye, smiled at her and lifted his hand into the air to wave, Charlie immediately blushing at the action before waving right back. Brett then turned his attention to the lacrosse field while Isaac nudged Charlie in the shoulder with his elbow. "Friend of yours?"

"No, he's just…" Charlie let her words hang between them and she lifted her hands up, pressing them against her heated and flushed cheeks. "He's a friend _of a_ friend, we went exploring once, him, me, Liam and Mason."

"He's an ally." Sydney supplied. "A very cute ally, don't you agree Charlie?"

"Uh?" Charlie looked over at her alpha and took note that she had a devious smile on her face. Without warning, Charlie slugged her in the arm and leaned into Isaac, letting him slip his arm around her shoulders as she pressed a sweet little kiss against his cheek. "Not as cute as Isaac."

"Sure." Sydney remarked with a roll of her eyes.

The three of them fell silent and watched as the teams began getting ready, lining up and putting helmets on. Sydney had her eyes on Coach Finstock, watching him as he looked around, seemingly for her. Once his eyes found hers, he lifted his hand into the air and waved it around frantically.

"Coach!" Isaac called out to him and Finstock's body stiffened at the calling of his name. Sydney let out a soft breath of relief as the man's eyes traveled sideways and landed on Isaac.

"Lahey, what the hell are you doing in the stands?!" Coach Finstock called out to him but before Isaac had a chance to reply, Stiles wandered over towards Coach and lightly slapped him on the upper arm, immediately drawing Finstock's attention away from the stands.

"Hey, Coach, now is the, uh, time to forfeit the game." Stiles instructed but Coach Finstock made no move at all. "Now's the perfect time to forfeit the game. You got to- Coach."

"Stilinski, I've _never_ forfeited a game and I never will." Coach replied and Sydney could hear it in his voice that he was practically beaming. She shook her head at his determination but settled in to the stands. "Get on the field."

Coach Finstock blew his whistle and the hustle and bustle of the crowd picked up. The people in the stands could tell that it was getting close to the start of the game and as the players from either side lined up on the field, Sydney sucked in a breath, held it for a few seconds and blew it out, hoping that tonight would be relatively uneventful, considering all of the things that _could_ go wrong.

"What's the plan again?" Isaac asked in a hushed tone as he leaned in, his lips right next to Charlie's ear.

"Malia's going to worry about the news people while the others search for someone with blood on their size ten shoes." Charlie answered, putting the plan into a simple sentence. "All the while we keep an eye out and help if we think they need it."

"You're sure this is going to work?' Sydney threw in and bounced her legs on the balls of her feet. "I mean, I don't want to die tonight, and I certainly don't want you or anyone else to die either, what happens if this doesn't work, what happens if the beast shows up and starts ripping people to pieces?"

"Then we run." Charlie nodded. "We get the hell out of here as fast as possible."

"It's that simple." Sydney said sarcastically and let her attention fall to the field.

When the referee on the field blew the whistle, signaling the start of the game, Sydney found her eyes wandering every which way. She didn't know what had her so anxious, she just knew that something didn't feel right, something about the game, and the people around her, was setting her on edge.

She didn't like it, she didn't like the idea that the beast could show up at any second and start ripping people apart and even if the beast _did_ show up, it wasn't like Sydney would be all that comfortable with running away. There were far too many innocent human beings, way too many people who would die if she didn't at least _try_ to stop the beast.

It wasn't like she was alone either, she had Charlie and Isaac, and that wasn't even getting into all of Scott's pack that was littered around the field. Surely he wouldn't just let the beast run around destroying people and taking lives, right?

Plus Brett was on the field too and Sydney wasn't entirely sure, but she could've sworn that she had smelled a couple other supernatural creatures sitting in the stands with them. If the beast showed its ugly face, then they'd at least have the numbers, assuming everyone who was super human was willing to help.

"She's mean." Isaac remarked and Sydney jerked her head towards him, raising one eyebrow in confusion. Isaac pointed down to the field, where one of the Beacon Hills players had leveled three of the Devenford players out. "Her."

"Kira." Charlie stated. "She's on the team and she's good."

Sydney sucked in a breath and watched Kira on the field. She was running around, growling, and if Sydney wasn't mistaken, she was intentionally trying to take out the other players. When a small eruption of sparks caught Sydney's attention off to the side, she glanced in the direction of the news vans and tried to see what was going on.

She could just barely spot Malia on the top of one of the vans and with a shake of her head, Sydney turned her attention back to the game but keeping her ears tuned in to everything else going on around her.

"Look at her go." Charlie smiled and waved her hand in the direction of the field. Sydney followed her lead and watched as Kira continued to run towards the net, taking out anyone and everyone that got in her way.

When she let the ball sail off the end of her stick, the crowd went silent and didn't make another noise until the ball hit the back of the net. Cheers erupted all around them and Sydney carefully made her way to her feet. She caught wind of a scent coming from behind her and when she peered into the vacant space behind the bleachers, Sydney spotted a lithe little blonde girl.

"I think that's Brett's sister." Charlie hissed and made a move to grab Sydney's hand. "She's on our side, she's part of the plan."

"What's she doing?" Sydney questioned and gently pried her arm away from Charlie.

"Checking the shoes in the stand, at least I'm pretty sure." Charlie answered and, in sync with Isaac, she lowered herself back down, sitting on the bleachers. "Come on, sit and enjoy."

"I'm just going to take a little walk, okay?" Sydney countered and hesitated before taking a step down. She glanced back at the two youngsters sitting side by side on the bleachers and threw Charlie what she was hoping was a reassuring smile. Sitting still, remaining in the bleachers, wasn't something that Sydney was too fond of.

At least if she could walk the perimeter and look for any sort of threat, then maybe she'd feel a little better.

"Kira's awesome!" Charlie's voice sounded out and Sydney stole another look at her and Isaac. "She's really showing those boys who's boss."

Sydney tore her eyes off Charlie and looked out onto the field, taking in the sight of three downed Devenford players, all of whom were moaning and groaning in pain.

"But she didn't even have the ball." Isaac argued.

Sydney brushed them off and descended the rest of the steps. When her feet hit solid ground, she tucked her hands into her pockets and made a move towards the end of the bleachers, the one nearest the parking lot.

"That girl is _damn_ serious about charity." Sydney heard Coach Finstock say and she stifled a laugh at how enthusiastic he was. This was just a charity lacrosse game, one that she had helped talk him in to coaching and here he was being just as into it as everyone else.

She stopped walking right behind Finstock and watched the game for a few seconds. She cringed when Brett slammed into Kira, knocking her to the ground, she winced when Kira leapt to her feet, her lacrosse stick poised more like a baseball bat and she bit back a yelp as Kira swung the stick directly at Brett's head, landing a solid hit and sending his helmet flying backwards.

The referee ejected her from the game and Sydney took a step back as Kira brushed by her, Scott following close by. She kept her eyes on the kitsune and when the girl who was behind them in the stands searching for shoes took off after her, Sydney looked out onto the field, trying to catch Stiles' eyes. Was he going to need help now that there gang was depleting, was he going to enlist _her_ to help?

When a hand came down to rest on her shoulder, Sydney turned in the direction from where it came and locked her eyes on her very own beta, Isaac standing right next to Charlie.

"We got this." Charlie nodded and Isaac forced a smile at her too. "You go do whatever it is you got to do."

"Call me if you need me." Sydney instructed and took off in the direction that she had been heading for before all the drama on the field had happened.

She shook her head, tried to clear her mind of all the horrendous thoughts occurring because of the threat of the beast, and surged forward. She just wanted to catch her breath, she just wanted to feel her body relax for even just a second.

Before she realized what she was doing, or where she was headed, she caught a whiff of Malia's scent and looked upwards, just in time to catch Malia pull the cord away from the small tower on the top of one of the vans. The news vans were not more than twenty feet away from her and as soon as she caught sight of the young werecoyote, she sucked in a breath and prayed that she could get her part of the plan done.

Standing up, Sydney watched as Malia lined her body up with the last van, preparing herself to jump from the roof of the van in the middle of the three to the one on the end. Sydney stood still and watched in awe, witnessing her as she took a few steps back before breaking out into a run.

Sailing through the air, Malia managed to land her jump perfectly but before she could get anywhere close to the tower on the roof, someone appeared beside the van and nabbed her ankle, pulling her leg out from under her. Malia tumbled to the ground and Sydney surged forward, ready to help protect the werecoyote from whoever dared to try and stop the plan from being completed.

"Bitch." Malia groaned and Sydney came running over to her, crouching behind the fallen teenager and setting a glare on the woman standing over them.

Who the hell was this? This woman was unfamiliar but that didn't make her any less dangerous. With a low growl directed at the stranger, Sydney helped Malia into a sitting position and flashed her red alpha eyes at the woman for added effect.

"I prefer 'Mom'."

"Mom?" Sydney barked and quickly helped Malia to her feet, the two of them squaring off against the woman standing maliciously in front of them. "You're the Desert Wolf?"

"Who are _you_?" The woman shot back.

"Honestly, I've been trying to get people to call me the Reaper but you know, it's just _not_ sticking." Sydney countered with a sarcastic tone to her voice. "I guess you can call me Syd."

"What are you doing here?" Malia hissed at the woman and Sydney reached her hand out, setting it on the girl's shoulders to let her know that she was right there, she was right next to her and willing to fight. The conversation the two of them had at Deaton's all those nights ago flashed through Sydney's mind and whether or not she liked Malia didn't matter at that moment, right now, they had a common enemy.

"I just came to check on my little girl." The Desert Wolf purred and Sydney bit back the urge to growl at her.

"To be honest, I'm totally up for killing you right now, but I've got other priorities." Malia fired back.

"I can see that, got something against the local news? Somebody make a broadcast you didn't like?" The Desert Wolf taunted and Sydney let loose a growl that would rival that of a real wolf.

"Somebody's about to, and since I know you're not going to try to kill me until there's a full moon, get out of my way." Malia took a step forward but the woman in front of her, her biological mother, didn't move an inch. "People are going to die."

"People die every day, sweetheart."

"Don't call her that." Sydney snarled.

"Yes, stop calling me that, you don't get to call me sweetheart." Malia added and shot Sydney what she assumed was a look of appreciation.

"I say we kill her right now, especially if she's not going to kill _you_." Sydney pointed out and the woman in front of them locked her eyes with Sydney's.

Sydney didn't flinch though, she wasn't going to back down, this was something she was familiar with, yes! Fighting, killing, breaking people, this was something she could do, and boy was she craving a fight, especially with someone who she deemed as competition. Was this the moment that she should seize, was this the opportunity for her to end the Desert Wolf?

"All right, what if there's a compromise?" The woman stated, breaking Sydney out of her own thoughts. "What if you come with me? We can try to solve our little predicament and maybe I start calling you 'daughter'."

"You'd actually need to be a decent mother to do that." Sydney barked. "You tried to kill her once, you can _back_ the fuck up right now."

The Desert Wolf stood calm and quiet in front of her and Sydney ground her teeth together, fighting off the urge to lunge at the woman at that very minute. There wasn't anything stopping her, there wasn't anything in her way, but yet, she knew that it wasn't the right time. Malia was right, they had other priorities, which meant that Sydney needed to focus her energy on getting rid of the Desert Wolf until the end of the game.

Could she distract her? Could she intimidate her? Chances were slim, especially if the woman had once been romantically linked to Peter, that it wouldn't be as cut and dry as that.

"Or what?" The Desert Wolf baited and Sydney bared her teeth, which were razor sharp and ready to dig in to the Desert Wolf's neck. Sydney knew that her strong point wasn't backing down from some one, she was fully aware of how completely desperate she was to lay her hands, and claws, into the woman in front of her.

"I'm going to kill you." Malia cut in, pulling Sydney down from her high. Shaking her head, she tried to pull herself together and focus on the task at hand, which was stopping the Beast and not killing the Desert Wolf.

"You're definitely my daughter." The Desert Wolf smirked.

"Back off." Sydney said calmly and firmly. "Before I make you back off."

"You really think you're going to make a difference, don't you? Who are you trying to save out here? A bunch of random people? Your little high school friends?" The woman wasn't listening, she wasn't even hearing Sydney. That's exactly what they were trying to do and as soon as this woman who called herself the Desert Wolf backed off and let them continue with their plan, then they'd be able to get back to the important things, which was trying to save lives.

"I said _back_ off." Sydney growled.

"You're not as threatening as you think you are." The Desert Wolf remarked casually. Sydney cocked her head to the side and let her eyes flash between red and her usual brown. If she could just get this woman to see that she wasn't someone who was a simple beta, then maybe she could get her to leave them alone, at least for the time being.

"Try me." Sydney challenged while Malia straightened up beside her.

"You want to do this now? Fine?" Malia snipped and waited for the woman across from them to make her move.

The Desert Wolf took a single step forward but she stopped, frozen in place. Her head turned towards the bleachers and Sydney followed her gaze, locking her eyes with Stiles. Charlie was a few feet away from him, as was Isaac, but it didn't matter, the Desert Wolf had already set her sights on the incredibly smart but stupidly brave human.

"It's him, isn't it? That's the one." The Desert Wolf was smiling but Sydney let out a feral growl. "He's important, to both of you, isn't he?"

"Lay a hand on him and I will cut your heart out bitch." Sydney leveled the woman with a glare and she swore that this time the Desert Wolf actually flinched, even if was only the tiniest little bit.

Malia's hand wrapped around Sydney's wrist and she felt her muscles relaxing at the mere touch. Without thinking about it, she glanced back over to where Stiles was standing, this time Charlie was right next to him, her hand on his forehead while Isaac stood on Stiles' other side. Turning her attention back to the Desert Wolf, Sydney sucked in a breath and widened her eyes.

The woman was gone, she was just…gone. In the blink of an eye, the Desert Wolf was back on the loose in Beacon Hills and now she knew that Sydney existed and that she had it in for her. What had Sydney done? What had she been thinking?

Looking over at Malia, who gave Sydney a nod that she was a-okay, Sydney took off over towards Stiles, Charlie and Isaac while Malia made quick work of getting back up on the last news van. Sydney came running right at them, stopping only when she was right in front of them, lifting a hand up and setting it on Stiles' head so that Charlie could remove hers. Sydney focused and drew out what little pain the human had, then she looked him over, checking for any other lingering injuries.

"It's just his head." Charlie said. "He's not very stealthy at looking at people's shoes."

"He should've just put a sign up saying 'I'm a freak, let me see your soles'." Isaac muttered, receiving a glare from Stiles.

"You're okay?" Sydney questioned and watched Stiles nod his head yes.

"I'm fine, just fine. How about you?"

"I'm…also fine." Sydney let out a sigh of relief and brought Stiles in for a hug, squeezing him tight and silently thanking the higher powers that he hadn't been hurt, too badly. When she loosened her grip on him, she stepped around him and slipped her arm around Charlie's shoulders, giving her beta a reassuring squeeze before tossing a smile in Isaac's direction.

The four of them looked over to the vans and when a loud, ear-piercing shriek erupted from the broadcasting towers, Sydney immediately pushed the three of them behind her, ready to protect them if the time came. She tried to shake off the sound ringing in her ears, instead making an attempt to focus on her surroundings, but it was no use. When the ringing finally stopped, she felt a shiver run down her spine and was reduced to watching as something big appeared in her line of sight.

Sydney felt her body jerk sideways and she stumbled away from the three she was trying to protect, her eyes locked on Charlie as the younger girl took off in a run towards the end of the bleachers. Liam shot past her line of sight too and Charlie fell in behind him before Sydney could register what was going on.

"Charlie!" Isaac screamed out for her and Sydney sucked in a breath, pushing her feet off the ground and taking off after her beta.

She ran like her life depended on it and even the sight of the giant black beast wasn't enough to slow her down. Leaping into the air, Sydney opened her arms and soared through the night sky, heading right for Charlie with the intention of bringing her to the ground before she could meet the beast head on.

Liam's body collided with the beast's arms and Sydney successfully wrapped her own arms around Charlie's waist before she could lay a hand on the beast, bringing her to the ground with a rough landing. The air rushed out of her lungs but Sydney clung to Charlie with everything she had, all the while Stiles remained with Isaac calling out for Liam and hoping for the best possible outcome.

"You don't do that." Sydney wheezed and held Charlie against her chest as she scrambled to her feet, not entirely sure she wanted to remain stationary while there was a giant beast running around outside. "Come on!"

Sydney held on to Charlie as they moved as quickly as they could back towards Isaac and Stiles, Charlie collapsing against Isaac's chest as Sydney worked on regaining her ability to breathe. She sucked in a breath and felt her lungs burning but blew it out and repeated the process a few more times until it no longer hurt to draw in air. With her eyes glowing red and a deadly serious look on her face, she leveled her beta with a glare.

"Syd-"

"Don't." Sydney cut Isaac off. "She could've died, the plan was to run and she could've died."

Without warning, Sydney wrapped her arms back around Charlie and held her as tightly as humanly possible. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and buried her face into her beta's hair.

"Sorry." Charlie murmured.

"I could've lost you." Sydney whimpered. "I can't lose you."

"Guys, not that I don't appreciate a sentimental moment here and there but we've got uh, bigger _things_ to worry about." Stiles piped up and Sydney reluctantly peeled her nose away from Charlie's head, looking directly at the human who was staring past them all.

Charlie moved away from Sydney and followed Stiles' gaze, taking in the sight of a fallen Liam, who was lying motionless on the ground a few feet away. It wasn't until Hayden let out an ear piercing shriek that any of them moved. Charlie broke out into a run towards the fallen youngster, Isaac and Stiles right behind her as Sydney hung back, taking a look around the field in search of the werecoyote that had been not too far away before everything went down.

She didn't see her, she couldn't _really_ smell her and with a frustrated huff, Sydney surged forward, joining the rest of them as they crowded around Liam, hauling him to his feet. When he let out a wheezy sigh, Sydney sucked in a breath and tuned her ears into his heartbeat, hoping and praying that they could get him somewhere relatively safe. There was still a giant beast running around and considering Charlie had made a move to attack it minutes earlier, it was eerily quiet and calm out on the field.

"We have to get him inside." Hayden instructed and tucked herself under his right arm while Stiles helped support Liam on the left side. Sydney fell in behind them while Isaac and Charlie took up the lead, heading right for the school.

The doors were whipped open and Isaac held them until everyone was inside, all the while Charlie didn't slow down at all. Sydney hesitated and waited for Isaac, letting him fall in step beside her as Charlie moved swiftly through the vacant hallways. She turned the corner though and that's when the chaos hit them, that's when the true mayhem of the situation was realized.

There were students running this way and that clearly terrified for their lives and at the sound of screaming and wailing, Charlie slowed down, stopping completely to let a small horde of her fellow classmates cross in front of them. Once the group was gone though, she pressed forward, hoping to get somewhere far, far away from the beast.

"There!" Stiles pointed his hand in the direction of a nearby classroom and without hesitating for a second, the group of them headed right for it, getting Liam inside without incident. Isaac stood back at the door and made sure it shut tight before turning his back against it and leaning on it with his full weight to make sure that if the beast managed to find them, that it'd have to work all that much harder to get them.

"He doesn't look good." Sydney remarked and tossed a look in Isaac's direction. He forced a smile back at her, letting her know that he had the door covered, and at that point in time, what else could he really do. She gave him a nod and focused her attention back on the bleeding teenager, hoping that this wasn't where they had brought him to die.

"The desk, the desk!" Stiles commanded and took a few steps forward, Hayden moving along with him, Liam still between them.

Liam's abdomen came in contact with the edge of the table and he let out a loud cry of pain, Sydney immediately stepping up next to him in order to make sure that Hayden wasn't going to let him collapse to the ground as soon as Stiles let go of him.

Stiles ran his arm across the surface of the desk, clearing it off, and then he was right back at the young beta's side, helping him up onto the table so that he was flat on his back. Liam let out another loud groan and Charlie covered her mouth, taking in the sight of his chest, which was battered and bloody.

"Okay, okay." Stiles muttered.

"Liam." Hayden's voice was nearing a pleading tone and Sydney leaned her palms against the edge of the desk, wondering what exactly she could do to help them.

"I'm okay." Liam forced the words out between baited breaths. "I'm fine."

Stiles and Hayden ripped the remaining material of Liam's jersey, one of them even going as far as to pull a strip of the shirt off his grotesque wound. There were giant claw marks across his chest, all of which were bleeding, a vibrant crimson liquid was oozing out of each and every scratch.

"Oh god." Charlie whimpered. "What the hell is going on here?"

"It's from the beast," Sydney whispered back, "you should be thanking god that's not what _your_ chest looks like right now."

Sufficiently scolded by her alpha, Charlie only managed to let out a small, embarrassed squeak in response. Sydney gently shoved Charlie out of the way and latched her hand onto Liam's wrist, sucking in a breath and praying that he'd make it out of the school in one piece.

Stiles continued to poke and prod at the wound and when he and Hayden pulled off a couple more strips of the jersey, he let out a gross gagging sound, Sydney watching as his entire body recoiled from the sight, _and_ from the smell.

"What? Is it bad?" Liam asked, desperation lacing his tone.

"No." Hayden countered at the same time that Stiles replied with, "very."

"It's fine." Sydney grumbled and gripped his wrist tighter in her hand. "He's going to be _fine_."

"Okay?" Hayden stole a glance in Sydney's direction and she nodded her head yes. "Okay, so what do you guys usually do when this happens?"

"Heal him." Sydney muttered.

"Oh, I usually pass out." Stiles confessed, his voice coming out louder than Sydney's. He looked at the wound once more and took a step back, trying to get as far away from it as possible. "And I think I still might do that."

Stiles' eyes rolled upwards and Sydney turned to face him, grabbing his hand with her free one and giving his fingers a rough squeeze.

"For god's sake, pull yourself together." Sydney growled but Stiles' head lulled backwards and she swore that if he passed out, she'd kick him while he was lying on the floor just because she could.

"Stiles!" Hayden hissed and he seemed to pull himself together. His body straightened up and his confidence seemed to return. Yes, this was the Stiles that they needed, _this_ was the Stiles that could help them.

"Okay, okay." Stiles nodded his head as he managed to gather his composure. "Okay, Scott did this with pain, he could trigger it. Pain makes you human."

"He's not out of control." Sydney pointed out.

"And he's already in pain." Hayden added in.

"Right, okay, but maybe adding a little more could help take away the pain." Stiles suggested.

"Seriously?" Charlie gawked at him and moved to stand behind Sydney, setting her hand on her alpha's shoulder. "That's your bright idea?"

"What sort of logic is _that_?" Isaac questioned from the doorway, still with his back against it.

"Well it's not like we can use your scarf to take away his pain." Stiles fired back and Sydney leveled both boys with a glare, even going as far as to bring her alpha eyes out. Isaac backed off and Stiles turned his head towards Liam, watching his friend struggle with the festering wound on his chest.

"Take away his pain." Hayden murmured though and Sydney seemed tuned in to her words, completely ignoring the two boys at this point in time. They weren't helping, they were too busy going at each other, and she needed to focus.

"Watch." Sydney said softly and squeezed Liam's wrist.

Hayden did exactly as she was told for a few seconds, then a small smile crossed her lips as she watched the black taking over Liam's veins. Sydney continued to draw out his pain through the contact with his wrist but Hayden leaned over the younger boy and pressed her lips gently against his.

With a small smile and a large roll of her eyes, Sydney couldn't help but approve of Hayden, the girl in front of her, as she drew out Liam's pain via a kiss. Liam's body visibly relaxed with each passing second and as Hayden drew out his pain through her lips, Sydney continued to pull it out of his arm. When Hayden broke away though, Liam seemed much better off than he had been seconds ago.

"Next time I'll kiss him." Stiles said softly and Sydney slipped her arm around his shoulders, breaking her hold on Liam.

"You can't do that." She teased and felt him relax the tiniest bit against her. "Come on, what's the plan now? We can't just stay here all night, right?"

Stiles shook his head and lifted his hands up, pressing his palms against the top of his head as he seemed to consider their next move. What exactly were they supposed to do? Sydney was right, they couldn't spend the night holed up in an empty classroom. Were they supposed to go after the beast though? Were they supposed to go back out into the chaos in the hallways and track down the very thing that had hurt Liam and wanted nothing more than to murder innocent people?

"What about Scott, or Malia?" Charlie piped up and stepped across the floor, taking up a stance next to Isaac as he carried on leaning against the door. "We should try to find them, shouldn't we?"

Sydney let her head roll from side to side as she contemplated Charlie's suggestion. Before she could open her mouth to respond though, she caught wind of a rapidly beating heart, one that didn't sound quite right. She looked to the door and spotted the worried expression on Isaac's face at the same time that a loud, ferocious growl sounded out in the hallways.

"Scott?" Isaac mumbled and cocked his head sideways in an attempt to get a better vantage point.

The growl was distant but still very clear and without thinking about the consequences of his actions, Isaac pushed himself away from the door, ripped it open and took off, all the while loud stomping noises echoed in the school. Sydney's eyes widened at the sight of the wide open doorway but what really had her heart hammering was how quickly Charlie took off after Isaac, the two of them now gone.

"Fuck me." Sydney groaned and rushed towards the door to the hallway. She paused just inside the room and looked back, taking in the sight of the concerned expression on Stiles' face. "Are you guys good?"

"Yeah." Hayden bowed her head. "We can handle this."

"You sure?" Sydney locked her eyes on Stiles and he lifted his hands up in surrender.

"Go." He nodded and Sydney sucked in a breath, wondering how badly things were going to turn out before the sun came up.

She surged through the doorway but stopped, debating which way to go. Taking in a deep whiff of the air, she shook her head and tried to clear her senses. There were far too many lingering odors, far too many pounding heartbeats for her to track down two specific ones. There were obviously way too many people still in the school but Sydney knew that she had to try, she had to find Charlie and Isaac and she'd give it her all as she did so.

Turning to the right, Sydney broke out into a run and prayed that she would be able to find them before the beast did, at least if the three of them were together, then they stood a chance at outsmarting the beast long enough to get out of the school. Turning corners and trying to pinpoint the location of her beta, Sydney continued to move quickly, turning each and every corner with reckless abandon.

It wasn't until she caught a whiff of a familiar female scent that she even slowed down, and that was only so that she didn't trip going down the flight of stairs in front of her. Malia's aroma flooded her nostrils and became stronger with each and every step that she took, and when Sydney hit the base of the stairs, she shook her head and sucked in a deep breath.

"Malia!" She called out for the young werecoyote and within seconds, Sydney was moving forward again. She could hear footsteps, she could smell the girl, and after turning right at the very next corner, she knew that she was close. Peering down the hallway, Sydney laid her eyes on two female forms, one of which she knew was Malia simply by the scent. "Hey Malia!"

Running to catch up, Sydney managed to fall in stride next to Malia while glancing at the woman that she was wandering the school next too. Braeden, oh yes, Sydney knew Braeden, the last time she had seen the woman was when they had all gone to Mexico searching for Scott.

"Long time." Braeden remarked casually while a shotgun was poised in front of her.

"No kidding." Sydney scoffed but Malia's fingers wrapped around Sydney's wrist, squeezing her hard. Sydney could feel her nails biting into her skin but she didn't make a noise, she merely waited for Malia to speak.

"Have _you_ seen Stiles? I can't find him." Malia asked and Sydney nodded her head yes.

"He's with Liam and Hayden in an empty classroom." Sydney answered, and watched as Malia's body relaxed at her words. "He's okay, for now anyways."

A silence fell over them all and without exchanging words, each one of them knew what they had to do: they had to find the beast, they had to make sure that it hadn't killed anyone else, they had to get to Scott.

Braeden led the charge, her gun poised and ready for anything, all the while Malia directed her in the right direction. Sydney tried desperately to get a lock onto Charlie's scent and when it seemed to be getting stronger and more prominent, she knew they were heading in the right direction.

A few quiet, stealthy minutes later, the three females approached the doors to the high school's library and Sydney nearly jumped forward, ready to lay her eyes on Charlie, hoping that her beta was in the library unharmed, but Malia's arm shot out, her fingers wrapping around Sydney's bicep and holding her back.

"What?" Sydney locked her eyes on the younger female.

"Charlie's not in there." Malia said in a low tone. "But Scott is."

"And so is the beast." Braeden added, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

Sydney turned on her heels and looked all around the hallway, trying to locate Charlie. Malia was wrong, Charlie was here, she could smell her, she could sense her, but maybe, _maybe_ it was possible that Charlie _was_ nearby and not behind the library doors.

"Charlie?" Sydney called out in a whisper and she freed her arm from Malia's grasp, moving quickly around the hallway. "Charlie are you there?"

A few long, lingering seconds passed them by and a loud roar erupted from behind the doors to the library. Sounds of things breaking and crashing exploded in Sydney's ears and she sucked in a breath, readying herself to push through the doors and join Scott in his fight against the beast.

Sydney leaned back on her heels and forced her claws out but before she could make a move towards the library, and without even a hint of warning, three bodies came at her, one of which belonged to Charlie, while Liam and Isaac tailed closely behind her. Scott's pain filled grunts and groans could be easily heard from inside the library and without any further provocation, Liam took the lead, launching himself through the doors and high into the air.

Charlie and Isaac moved forward but stopped inside the doors, standing back and letting Liam sail through the air unassisted. The youngest beta's fists connected with the side of the beast's face, which was apparently all the egging on that Braeden needed before she began firing off round after round, after round.

Charlie's body was pulled sideways and Sydney wrapped her arms around her, holding her tight while Isaac crowded near them, gunshots still erupting from Braeden's gun.

"You two okay?" Sydney hissed at them and held Charlie tight against her chest, feeling her beta nod her head yes. "You gave me a heart attack, don't you dare go running off like that, _ever_ again."

The only sounds that were heard in the library though were Braeden's shotgun and once the beast rounded on its heels and fired itself like a torpedo through the large window behind it, an eerie calm took over the entire room. Malia moved towards Scott and helped him get to his feet, all the while Liam composed himself off to the side. Isaac jogged towards Scott and gave him a rough pat on the shoulder, silently telling his friend that he had done good.

Everyone moved towards the center of the room, including Sydney and Charlie, and when they were all in a collective group, they looked to the window, studying the broken panes of glass from the beast's escape.

"You didn't seriously think you were going to have a chance against that thing, did you?" Braeden quipped and Sydney could hear the scolding tone to her voice.

"No." Scott answered, his chest heaving from the fight. "But I got its scent."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Charlie piped up. "Come on."

Sydney's grip on the girl tightened but Charlie didn't give up, she wasn't going to give up, not until they figured out who the beast really was. Scott looked at Charlie, then to Liam, and without a second thought, he took off for the library doors, pausing right before he stepped through them to see who was coming after him.

Isaac was the first one to fall in behind Scott, Liam hot on his heels too. Charlie slipped her hand into Sydney's and tugged her along behind her, leading her alpha through the library and following Scott and the two boys as he tracked the scent that he had managed to catch in the melee.

"You're grounded when we get home." Sydney grumbled and Charlie glanced sideways at her, forcing a reassuring smile onto her face.

"I figured. You should be grounded too though."

"Don't worry about me, I'm way ahead of you on that." Sydney found herself genuinely smiling down at her beta, glad that neither one of them had gotten hurt in all of the commotion. They fell silent and simply followed Scott's lead as he rushed through the school, tracking the beast's scent.

"Scott, wait. You're hurt." Liam urged his alpha to stop but Scott seemed more determined than ever as they reached a door to the outside. Scott didn't even hesitate as he pushed it open and stepped out of the school, closing in on the parking lot. "You got to slow down."

Sydney and Charlie picked up their pace and caught up to Scott at the same time that he approached the first car in the row. He sniffed the air and Sydney followed his lead, hoping that she could catch a whiff of something that smelled off in any way. Scott moved over the cars quickly though and didn't even give Sydney a chance to try before he stopped at the back of a black car in the midst of all the other vehicles.

Charlie reached out and grabbed Isaac by the upper arm, pulling him back just enough to give Scott ample room. Scott grabbed the back of the car and hoisted it upwards, popping the trunk forcefully, a grunt escaping him as he did so. Reaching in, Scott grabbed hold of one of the shoes tucked away there and turned it over, the bottom of the sole was completely red, covered in blood.

"Parrish's blood." Charlie mumbled and Sydney nodded her understanding. This was the shoe they were supposed to have been looking for at the game, this was the shoe belonging to the kid that doubled as the beast.

"Who's car-"

Before Sydney could get the rest of her question out of her mouth, Scott slammed the trunk shut and the entire group came face to face with Mason, who had a shocked look on his face.

"Scott?" Mason stumbled over his words. "What are you doing to my car?"

"It's you." Scott narrowed his eyes in on the kid.

"What? Liam, what's he talking about?" Mason countered and looked at Liam, then over to Charlie, who merely tucked herself closer to Sydney, wishing that this wasn't true and that maybe she could just hide from the truth. "Charlie? Liam?"

Mason was the beast? Mason, the very kid who had been there for her through all of her troubles, was the very beast they were looking for, the very beast that had tried to kill Scott, and many others, just minutes ago? What were they supposed to do, how were they supposed to handle things now?

Charlie made a move to step forward to try to comfort him, soften the blow that he would no doubt be taking, but before she could move even a foot away from her alpha, Corey appeared out of thin air, his back against the neighbouring car.

"Corey, wait!" Scott's tone was pleading and Sydney narrowed her eyes in on Corey. Before anyone could register what was going on, Corey set his hands on Mason's shoulders and the two of them disappeared, almost as though they had evaporated into thin air.

"The fuck?" Sydney growled and Scott launched himself forward, grabbing at where the two of them had just been.

"Corey, wait!" Scott screamed but it was clearly no use. They were gone, they were no longer in front of them and Charlie let out a small squeak of despair.

"What do we do now?" Isaac asked in a low tone. "What the _hell_ is the next move?"

"Mason." Charlie whimpered and leaned against her alpha for support. "We find Mason."

"And we figure out a way to stop him." Sydney stated firmly.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

 ** _Ooooh things are getting intense! How you guys feeling about this?_**


	58. Chapter 58

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 58** **:**_

The entire car ride back to the house with Charlie and Charlie alone had been silent. Neither girl had apparently wanted to say anything, not that Sydney could blame her beta, and not that Charlie expected her alpha to voice her opinion. They knew what they had to do, they knew they had to figure out a way to stop Mason but they also knew that they needed to come up with an idea that didn't involve Mason being killed.

He had been innocent in everything, he had tried to help on more than one occasion and most importantly, he had been a friend to Charlie when she didn't have very many friends at all. Mason needed to be saved, he needed help, and that's exactly what the two females were going to do.

Sydney still hadn't said a word, not even as she pulled into the driveway, and Charlie didn't need werewolf senses to feel the frustration radiating off of her alpha. The two of them had left Isaac back at the school to help Scott get back home and no one had protested, not even Charlie.

"You have any ideas yet?" Charlie asked, her voice small and barely louder than a whisper.

"What?" Sydney shook her head and pulled herself out of her own head. She slowly turned her attention towards Charlie and shut the car off, freeing the key from the ignition. "Ideas on how to stop Mason? No."

"We have to save him too Syd, we can't just stop him without trying to get Mason back to himself." Charlie protested, but there was little conviction to her tone and a lack of enthusiasm at fighting her alpha. "We have to get rid of the Beast without getting rid of Mason."

"I know." Sydney let out a desperate sigh and popped open the driver's door. She made her way out of the car but paused when she was standing up, leaning against the top and letting out yet another sigh. Charlie stood up too and looked across the roof of the car, meeting Sydney's defeated gaze. "What if we can't save Mason though?'

Charlie immediately shook her head no, there weren't any scenarios playing in her head that involved losing Mason. He was a good guy, he was her friend and she wasn't going to lose him, she would fight as hard as she could to get him back, to free him from the beast's clutches.

"That's not an option." Charlie murmured.

"It is." Sydney nodded her head, her tone soft and soothing. "Last resort sort of option but Charlie, you have to understand that sometimes we have to lose people."

"I understand it just fine but it's not happening." Charlie fired back and pushed herself away from the car, slamming her door shut in the process. Sydney lifted her hands up in surrender and gently shut her own door before stepping up towards the front step alongside Charlie. "I don't like this. Why did the Dread Doctors have to use Mason?"

"I don't know Charlie." Sydney blew out a breath and the two of them reached the front door together. Sydney stepped forward and opened it, ushering Charlie inside before following suit, making sure the door was shut tight and locked behind her.

It wasn't hard for Sydney to sense where the twins were, and as soon as she spotted them sitting on the couch in the living room, she knew that Bruin was right there with them. Wandering into the house, Sydney crossed her arms over her chest and stepped around the couch, dropping down to sit next to Ethan who promptly handed Bruin over to her mother, Sydney taking the little girl in her hold and smiling softly at her.

"Where's Isaac?" Aidan quipped and looked around the house quizzically. He even took a deep inhale of the air around him and when he didn't smell anything out of the ordinary, he looked over at Sydney, clearly confused as to where the boy in question had disappeared to.

"He stayed with Scott." Sydney answered softly. "He was going to see if there wasn't something he could do to help. How was my baby girl?"

"She was good." Ethan bowed his head. "Didn't hardly make a sound while we were working on the bestiary."

"Did you find anything new? Anything on beasts?" Sydney countered and gently rocked Bruin back at forth, watching her little girl making faces at her. "Or Dread Doctors, hell, anything at all on chimeras-"

"No." Aidan cut her off and turned his attention towards his alpha. No one said a word though as Charlie joined them in the room, taking up a seat beside Aidan and leaning against his side. He slipped his arm around her in a soothing gesture and she looked up at him with a sad look on her face. "There might be someone who knows a thing or two though."

"Who?" Charlie seemed to light up at the idea of Aidan knowing someone who could help them. It wasn't hard to see that she was clearly at a loss for ideas on what to do but if Aidan knew _someone_ , then there had to be hope, right?

"Deucalion." Aidan answered with a nonchalant shrug. "And we know where to find him."

"So why haven't we left already?" Charlie furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. "Why are we still sitting here?"

"Because the last time we spoke, he wasn't ready to be free." Sydney supplied. "He's with Theo, he _wanted_ to stay with Theo."

"Fuck Theo." Charlie groaned and threw her hands into the air in frustration. "He doesn't get to win this round, he doesn't get to keep Deucalion, not when he might be our only hope."

"You think so? You really want to go take Deucalion out from under Theo's nose?" Sydney pressed and straightened up on the couch. She peered down at Bruin and studied her little girl's content expression. She found herself longing for a time when she wouldn't have to choose between saving people and being with her own daughter.

Bruin was her baby, _her_ child and more often than not lately she'd been pawning her off on the twins so that she could run off on adventures. She knew it wasn't fair to anyone involved, especially not Bruin, but part of her felt that if she didn't do something to help then it wouldn't matter anyways. The Dread Doctors were a much more formidable foe than she had ever encountered as was the one and only Theo Raeken. Worse things would happen if Sydney didn't play her role as alpha and protect her pack as best as she could but she still ached for the day when she could simply spend the days looking after her daughter without having to rely on the twins to baby-sit Bruin.

She looked over at her female beta and took her bottom lip in between her teeth. If Charlie was ready, if Charlie really wanted to go and get Deucalion from Theo's clutches then who was she to argue. It wasn't like they had come up with any other options to try and help Mason and maybe Deucalion _did_ know a thing or two about the Beast and maybe even how to stop it.

"Mason's my friend, I want to help him." Charlie confessed and Sydney nodded her agreement. "Ethan can watch Bruin, right? We won't even be gone that long if everything goes smoothly."

Ethan gave a nod of agreement and without questioning Sydney, he reached back over and made a move to take Bruin out of his alpha' hold. She hesitated though and leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss against the baby's forehead before reluctantly handing her back over to Ethan with a silent prayer that Charlie was right. She didn't want to be gone all that long but that would mean things would have to go smoothly and Sydney was already aware that banking on a plan going smoothly wasn't a good idea. They were in Beacon Hills, things _never_ went smoothly, no matter how simple they seemed from the start. Hell even the lacrosse game earlier had nearly turned into a massacre, which was something that still lingered on Sydney's mind.

She didn't want Charlie to keep getting in the way of danger but what real option did they have? It wasn't like they could lock her inside the house, that would be a cruel punishment for a girl who had been so excited to join Sydney's pack. They couldn't keep her out of the loop either, she was the one that went to school with Scott's pack, she was the one who relayed information to them when Stiles was preoccupied. Charlie was a valuable asset to them and whether or not Sydney really wanted her to join her in their mission to get to Deucalion didn't matter, she'd be joining her.

"I'm coming too." Aidan announced, breaking Sydney out of her thoughts, and rose up to his feet, hauling Charlie up off the couch next to him. "I'm not going to let the two of you walk into that place on your own, especially when we're talking about Theo, the beast _and_ Dread Doctors. You might need all the help you can get."

"And they say chivalry is dead." Charlie rolled her eyes but headed right back for the door, pausing just inside the living room to glance back and make sure the other two were right there with her. Sydney threw her arms up into the air and hopped up, taking off after Charlie while Aidan lingered for a few seconds longer, giving his brother a rough pat on the shoulder before he joined Sydney at the door.

Sydney and Charlie waited while Aidan slipped his feet into his shoes and his arms into his jacket, then, without looking back, they disappeared out of the house, taking off for the preserve and ultimately towards Deucalion, who was currently their only hope to come up with an idea on how to stop _and_ save Mason.

"What if Deucalion doesn't know anything that can help us?" Aidan piped up as the trio wandered deeper into the woods, Aidan steering them in the direction of the bridge where they'd easily pick up Deucalion's scent in order to get them back to Theo's lair. "What if he's just as useless as the rest of us? You guys haven't come up with _any_ other options?"

"I could try biting him." Sydney countered and let Aidan take the lead as the path towards the bridge narrowed. Charlie fell in behind Aidan and Sydney let herself be at the end of the line. "It worked to control the berserkers, worst case scenario, it makes him angrier and then we have to deal with a super pissed off beast instead of just a mildly pissed off beast."

"You'd have to get close enough _to_ bite him, that sounds pretty suicidal and crazy to me." Charlie remarked. "We should keep brainstorming, I mean, you've dealt with threats before right? How did you handle them?"

"Derek killed Peter by ripping out his throat and then lit him on fire." Sydney explained. "Then there was the kanima-"

"The kanima." Charlie cut in and her body went rigid. She stopped in her tracks and Aidan took a bigger lead but Sydney stopped right behind her and nudged her, wondering what had caused Charlie to stop moving. "Kanima's have venom that paralyzes, right?"

"Yeah, a paralytic toxin, that's what I heard thrown around before." Sydney agreed and Aidan finally came to a stop a few feet in front of them. He looked ahead and spotted the bridge not too far away, but he didn't move towards it, instead, he remained with the rest of his pack, simply listening to their exchange. "Wait. Isn't Tracy part kanima?"

"She is." Charlie nodded her head, a small, devious smile appearing on her lips. "And while I don't exactly think you stand a chance at biting the Beast, I think maybe biting Tracy would be relatively easy for an alpha like you. If you can get control of her, or even just talk her into helping us out, maybe we can subdue the Beast."

"Like a tranquilizer." Sydney's lips quirked upwards into a smile, matching the one that was growing on Charlie's face. "If we can knock it out, then maybe we can buy some time, we can figure out a way to save him without people being in danger."

"We still need to get to Deucalion though, not that your plan isn't a good one but he might know of a better idea, one that doesn't rely on some half kanima chimera that's technically against us." Aidan spoke up and waved the two girls forward. "Come on, we're not too far away."

"Right." Charlie surged forward and Sydney followed her lead, except now she had an idea in her head, now she had something to work with.

She found herself a little happy at the fact that she hadn't killed Theo when she had the chance and maybe Deucalion was right when he said he wasn't done with the kid. The deeper she dragged her pack into things, the more she was starting to see that Theo Raeken was a bigger asset than she had given him credit for. Maybe she'd end up keeping him around longer than she had planned on after all.

 ** _XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

Aidan continued to lead the charge, Charlie and Sydney were quite willing to let him dive into the tunnels first, and when he finally approached the large metal door that would lead them to Theo's lair, each one of them stopped and didn't make a sound. Aidan cocked his head sideways and let his eyes fall shut, concentrating on trying to decipher how big of a threat waited for them on the other side of the door. He opened his mouth to speak but Sydney had beat him to the punch.

"There's no one here." She hissed and glared at Aidan, wondering what the hell they were going to do now.

"We just missed him." Aidan grumbled and opened his eyes, leaning against the door and letting himself breathe a little easier than he had about ten seconds earlier. "I think we should still go in, maybe there's something inside that can help us anyways. Maybe Theo left us something behind?"

"Okay." Sydney sighed and let Aidan put his hands on the door. She stood right next to Charlie and the two of them stood back as Aidan struggled for a few seconds with the door before he managed to pop it open, clearly breaking the lock under his grip.

The door swung open with a long, eerie creaking noise, which caused a shudder to run down Sydney's spine. This place was creepy and there wasn't anything that anyone could do or say to make her feel better about being inside. Aidan carefully stepped over the threshold and looked all around, searching for a clue, or a hint, that would help them figure out a way to save Mason, a way that didn't rely on Sydney trying to get Tracy under her control.

"Oh my god!" Charlie shrieked and lifted a hand up, covering her mouth. She made a move to dash forward but Sydney grabbed her by the bicep and held her in place, keeping her from running over to the fallen form lying limp on the stairs. "No, no that's Josh, he's…"

"He's what?" Sydney barked and the two of them took a step into the room, moving slightly closer to the fallen chimera. "Dead?"

"No!" Charlie cried out and pulled her arm free from her alpha. She looked at Sydney with a pointed glare but moved towards the guy who was motionless on the floor of the lair. She approached him and dropped down to her knees near his head, gingerly reaching her hand out but before she could press her palm against his shoulder, Sydney let out a feral growl.

"Don't, what if it's a trap?" Sydney snarled and closed in on her beta while Aidan rushed forward too, jumping down to the lower level and darting over to stand at Josh's unmoving feet. "Aidan, hold his legs."

"I got his arms." Charlie sucked in an anxious breath and wrapped her hands around Josh's one wrist. Aidan grabbed hold of the guy's ankles and waited for further instruction. "You check him over, slowly though, okay?"

"I got this." Sydney nodded her head and grabbed the top of Josh's shoulders, pressing down on his bones as she searched for any sign that Josh was playing with them. She didn't want this to be a trap, she didn't want to be sucked into a dangerous situation, but she didn't trust Theo, she didn't trust any of his pack either.

Working her hands down Josh's limp body, she checked him over, looking for wounds, injuries bad enough to have killed him. Charlie leaned forward, putting all of her weight on Josh's arms before moving her ear downwards, pressing it against his chest.

"I can hear his heartbeat." Charlie murmured. "It's faint, I can _just_ hear it."

"Let me finish." Sydney scolded before giving Aidan a nod, watching carefully as her male beta ran his hands up the boy's legs. "We have to make sure he isn't playing possum."

"Okay." Charlie peeled her ear away from Josh's chest and studied his pain filled expression, which was frozen on his face. "We have to help him."

"We don't have to do anything." Aidan pointed out with a knowing look. "He's with Theo."

"I think it's safe to say that he _was_ with Theo." Sydney remarked. "Charlie what do you want us to do with him?"

Charlie leaned back and dropped down to her butt, loosening her hold on Josh's wrists. She ran her hand over his chest and noticed the bloodstained tears on his shirt. Huh, well that looked an awful lot like the rips and tears on Scott's shirt the night that Theo had tried to kill him in the library, did that mean that Theo had tried to kill Josh too? Maybe it was Deucalion? Maybe the Demon Wolf had managed to get free and turned on Theo?

"I want to try to save him." Charlie answered firmly. "But only if you agree."

"I'm leaving the call up to you." Sydney countered.

"What?" Aidan locked his eyes on his alpha. "How are we supposed to help him? You want to just take him back to the house where, need I remind you, your baby sleeps?"

"We keep him in the backyard." Charlie piped up. "Have someone guarding him at all times, we have handcuffs too right?"

"Yeah." Sydney nodded her head and ran her fingertips through Josh's hair. She gently pressed her hand against his scalp and drew out some of the boy's pain, Charlie following suit as soon as she realized what her alpha was doing. "If he so much as looks at any of us funny, I will finish him myself."

"Understood." Charlie bowed her head and looked at Josh's face. "He doesn't deserve this."

"Okay. Stay here with him, keep an eye out, we're going to take a look around." Sydney instructed. "Then we can get out of here."

"Hurry?" Charlie prompted. "This place gives me the willies."

"No kidding." Sydney muttered with a nod of agreement.

Aidan hopped up to his feet and headed around the room one way while Sydney headed around the room the other way. Charlie held on to Josh's hand, drawing out as much of his pain as she could muster, all the while watching her fellow pack members as they searched for any sort of clues or leads that would help them. When Josh let out a barely audible whimper, Charlie's eyes were immediately on his and she stared at him, praying that he'd open his eyes.

"Come on Josh." Charlie urged him on and squeezed his hand harder. "Open your eyes, wake up, you have to be okay."

Josh let out another low groan and Charlie leaned over him, pressing one of her palms against his chest and making an attempt to draw out even more of his pain. She felt his pain settling in her own chest and when her heart started to pound against her ribs, she held her breath and willed the pain to lessen.

Charlie squeezed her eyes shut but remained holding on to Josh's hand, at the same time that she had her palm against his chest. She could still feel his pain running through her body and with each passing second, her heart felt like it was working harder and harder.

"Guys?" She hissed and loosened her grip on his hand but didn't dare take her touch away from his chest. "Guys a little help here?"

Before she knew it, Sydney had pushed her sideways and began taking over in the process of drawing out the fallen chimera's pain. Charlie simply remained on the floor, watching as her alpha ground her teeth together and drew out as much pain as she could muster. Both of their veins turned black and it was clear to Charlie that Sydney was taking more pain that she had ever taken before, her entire wrist was a dark black colour and she let out a low, pain filled growl before Charlie drove her nails into Sydney's arm, forcing her to break the hold she had on Josh.

Aidan was right on Sydney's other side and he slipped his arm around her shoulders, cradling her against him as she tried to catch her breath. All three of them peered down at Josh though and watched as his eyelids moved the slightest little bit. Charlie extended her hand out and brushed his hair away from his forehead, then she ghosted her fingers down his cheek, watching as he twitched the tiniest little bit.

"We have to get him out of here." Charlie whispered.

"Before someone comes back." Aidan added in. "Come on, help me get him up."

Sydney stumbled to her feet with Aidan's help and one she was upright, Charlie immediately let her lean against her, supporting her alpha's weight. Sydney sucked in a quick, deep breath and stepped away from Charlie, rolling her shoulders back and working on getting her bearings, which freed up Charlie to help Aidan get Josh up and off the ground.

"Can you carry him?" Charlie quipped.

"We can prop him up between us, Syd can lead the way home." Aidan suggested and looked up at his alpha, who was standing on the top step glancing back down at her betas. "Charlie's right though, this place gives me the willies too."

"I won't argue with you on that." Sydney shook her head and meandered back towards the door. "It's just too bad we didn't find Deucalion."

"Yeah, maybe. If you ask me, I think we're probably better off." Charlie jeered and took up a stance on Josh's left side while Aidan supported the downed chimera on his right side. Sydney brushed the dirt off her jacket and marched forward, leading the way to the door, which she forced open and stepped through, waiting for the other two to join her back outside of Theo's lair. "I don't trust Deucalion."

"Me neither." Sydney added. "But he's done nothing to me, not yet anyways."

"Well there's always a first time for everything, he _did_ kill his entire pack before you even met him." Aidan pointed out and Sydney's lips turned upwards into a knowing smile. "He's not all that great as an alpha either."

"I can only imagine." Sydney smirked with a roll of her eyes. "Let's get a move on, we've still got to get this kid somewhere on the property where he won't be able to get to the rest of us, _and_ we have to tell Ethan about him too."

"He won't be pleased." Aidan shook his head knowingly.

"We can handle Josh." Charlie piped up. "He's harmless."

At the conclusion of her statement, the limp body between them let out an obnoxious groan and Charlie stiffened under his weight. She waited, hoping that he wasn't going to wake up and suddenly be alert enough to attack them, but even if Josh did happen to do that, he was outnumbered and Sydney and Aidan weren't the types of people who'd go easy on someone simply because they were half dead.

"Faster." Sydney remarked and picked up the pace, waving her two betas forward. "The sooner we get him contained and he's no longer a threat, the better I'll feel."

"I could _not_ agree with you more." Aidan announced.

All Charlie could do was hold her breath and hope that this wasn't going to come back to bite them in the ass later on.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 _ **I don't know about you guys but I quite liked Josh in the show...he didn't deserve to go out like he did.**_

 _ **Thoughts?**_


	59. Chapter 59

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 59** **:**_

It wasn't like carrying Josh back to their house was easy, not in the slightest, but once they had settled on Aidan being the one to carry him, things seemed to have gotten a little better. Charlie and Sydney took up residence on either side of Aidan, making sure he wasn't struggling too much with the nearly dead Josh in his arms, and once their home came in to view, the three of them had seemed to let out a collective breath.

Ethan was waiting for them at the front door and the very second that his eyes landed on the unconscious form, he let out a feral growl and brought out his glowing blue werewolf eyes. Sydney lifted a hand up and motioned for her betas to stop walking, then she took a few steps forward and let out a frustrated sigh.

"He's _hurt,_ bad _." Sydney announced and Ethan lifted his arms up, crossing them over his chest in order to make his stand a little more intimidating. "He needs help."_

"We can't trust him." Ethan stated and widened his stance slightly. "He's part of Theo's pack."

"Yeah, no I get what you're saying," Sydney paused and stole a quick glance back at Aidan, who was still holding on to the motionless Josh, "but he's practically dead and Charlie seems to think that he's harmless."

"Charlie's not the one with a baby to worry about." Ethan pointed out and cocked his head sideways. He studied each and every one of his fellow pack members standing out front of the house and when his eyes landed on Sydney, he reluctantly lowered his arms from his chest, dangling his fists at his sides instead. "What's the plan then? You're just going to bring him into the house, where your _baby_ sleeps?"

Sydney dropped her gaze to the ground and shook her head before Aidan cleared his throat. Suddenly all eyes were on him and as soon as they were all focused on the kid in his arms, Josh let out a low, pain filled moan. Without hesitating for a second, Charlie latched her hand onto his wrist and began drawing out whatever pain that he had, which seemed to be quite a bit now that he was making noises.

Ethan stole a quick look back into the house and threw his hands into the air in frustration before taking off for the rest of his pack. Without a word exchanged between him and his brother, he took the limp form of Josh and began carrying him towards the front of the house.

"Right to the backyard." Sydney commanded, breaking the blanket of silence that had fallen over them. "And chain him up so that he can't get loose. I may not like him being here, but I'm not just going to let him have free reign of the house."

Ethan's lips turned up slightly into a small smile at his alpha's instructions and she shook her head at him in response, a smile of her own forming on her face. She wasn't stupid, not by any means, and she understood where Ethan was coming from. He just wanted to make sure that the pack was protected, which included Bruin most importantly of all.

Charlie took a step towards her and set her palm on her shoulder, breaking the hold she had on Josh as Ethan continued to carry him towards their house, which he would walk right through in order to get to the backyard. Aidan was right there with him and the two females figured that he'd veer off to get the chains from the basement.

"Thank you." Charlie murmured and leaned her head against Sydney's shoulder. "For letting me make the call. I know you didn't necessarily like the idea of bringing Josh here but it's not like he asked to become a chimera."

"Giving bad guys a second chance seems to be something I'm familiar with." Sydney replied with a soft sigh. "The twins are probably one of the best things to happen to me and they were rampaging, murderous psychopaths."

"And now they're _your_ rampaging, murderous psychopaths."

"Yup." Sydney nodded with a chuckle. "Come on Charlie, let's go help them get Josh secured in the backyard. If you want, you can grab him some blankets from the closet upstairs, maybe a pillow."

"Do you know if there's a tarp somewhere?" Charlie countered and Sydney shrugged her shoulders in response. "If it rains, I don't want him to get wet."

"I know." Sydney nodded her understanding and slipped her hand around Charlie's waist, holding her tight against her. She let out another soft sigh and felt her body relaxing the slightest little bit.

So maybe she hadn't been all that thrilled with the idea of bringing Josh back to her house, maybe she wasn't comfortable having a stranger near her child, but Charlie had wanted to try to help him, she had wanted to hopefully save him, and who was Sydney to turn her down. Things had worked out for her okay in the past, which was evident by the fact that her pack currently consisted of two very skilled and strong male betas that would do almost anything to protect her and Bruin.

Taking chances meant making risks and maybe this one would turn out just like the last one had.

"Did you want me to call dad? See if he has any ideas on how to help us help Josh?" Charlie offered. Sydney took her words into consideration and tipped her head back, glancing up at the darkened sky. "Maybe he knows something that we don't?"

"I guarantee he knows something we don't." Sydney teased in response and lowered her head back down to its normal orientation. "Yeah, call him."

"Okay." Charlie gave in to her instruction and hesitantly peeled herself away from her alpha. She made a move towards the front of the house but paused, looking back at Sydney who had yet to move from the front yard. "Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah." Sydney breathed the word out and took a step forward. "I was just thinking."

"About?" Charlie baited but Sydney just shook her head. "Oh come on, you can tell me."

Sydney sucked in a breath and shoved her hand into the front pocket on her jeans, pulling out her cell phone and holding it up between her and Charlie. She locked her eyes on the device and turned the screen so that it was facing her, then she took another step, closing the distance between them.

"I was thinking I might call Derek again." Sydney said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. "I miss him, a lot."

"You say that like you're not supposed to." Charlie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "It's okay to miss people, especially people who are important to you."

"But I'm supposed to be the alpha, I'm supposed to be strong and-"

"That doesn't mean you don't need help every once in a while, or that you're not allowed to miss people who aren't with you. You have to know that I have never once expected you to know _everything_ or how to handle things _all_ the time. When we found Josh, I wasn't banking on you knowing exactly what to do but you're trying to help him, and isn't that really all I could ask for?" Charlie explained. "Syd, you're a good leader, if you weren't, you wouldn't have such a loyal pack. There is absolutely nothing forcing the twins to stick with you, or me for that matter, but we do, we stay right by your side because we believe in you, we want you to be our alpha."

"Charlie…" Sydney trailed off and lowered her arm from in between them. "You're too good."

"Maybe." Charlie grinned and walked closer to her alpha. "You know I could've abandoned ship the second I got to know Scott right, I'm sure he would've welcomed me into his pack, but I didn't, in fact, the thought hasn't even crossed my mind until this very second."

"Really?"

"Really." Charlie's grin grew wider. "Are you good now or is there more that you need to get off your chest?"

Sydney looked around at the front of her house and let her ears focus in on the faint sounds of chains rattling coming from the backyard. She shook her head, let her eyes fall shut for a few seconds and when she looked right back at Charlie, she knew that her irises were glowing red.

"I don't want things to change." Sydney confessed, which only caused Charlie to look at her with a confused expression on her face. " _If_ Peter ever comes back, the dynamic of our pack is going to be threatened. He's not the type of person to take demands from other people, even if that's me."

"You can handle Peter." Charlie scoffed. "And if you can't, well, isn't that why we have the chains? Maybe he'd like a spikey head band permanently affixed to his head."

Sydney let a bark of laughter escape her and when she met Charlie's eyes, she calmed down, knowing that her beta had a point, "I guess we'll cross that bridge if we ever get to it, for now, let's get this whole Josh thing figured out."

"Okay. Maybe you should go check on Bruin and I'll look into the tarp situation before I nab him some blankets." Charlie suggested.

Without any objections, Sydney took off for the front door of the house, Charlie falling in behind her. Once they were inside though, Sydney made a beeline right for the stairs, taking them two at a time in order to get to her bedroom quicker.

She knew that Bruin was in her crib, she had pinpointed the baby's scent the second that she had stepped onto the porch, and when she was just inside her bedroom door, she closed the distance between her and the crib before leaning over the side and taking in the sight of her peacefully slumbering little girl.

Reaching a hand out, Sydney gently ran her fingertips over Bruin's head and sucked in a breath, memorizing the sight in front of her. Ethan had been the one taking care of Bruin, Ethan had been the one that she had entrusted her daughter's life to for the time that she had been gone, and suddenly, she found herself thinking about the twins and what they had done in the past.

Ethan and Aidan had been a part of Deucalion's alpha pack once upon a time, they had tried to hurt Derek, they had played a part in the decimation of his pack, but they had redeemed themselves in her eyes, hadn't they?

Had she so easily ignored the fact that they had once been murderers, of people that she had known?

"Ethan and Aidan are good people." Sydney whispered and let her eyes fall shut. She pictured Derek in her mind, wondering what exactly he was up to at that exact moment and how he felt about the twins. Was he disappointed in her letting them into her pack, was he upset because she had aligned herself with two of the people responsible for his own pack falling apart? "They just needed a better leader."

Sydney gripped her phone in the hand not hanging into the crib and she lifted it up in front of her face, quickly scrolling through her contact list before landing on Derek's name. She let her thumb linger over his number for a few seconds before pressing down on the phone, watching as she called him.

Sandwiching her phone between her ear and her shoulder, she lowered her butt down to the floor, leaning her back up against the side of the crib and resting the back of her head between two of the rungs. She waited for the phone to ring a few times before Derek's voice came on the other line.

"Syd?" He sounded slightly panicked and when she peered out of her bedroom window, she realized how truly late it must be. "Is everything okay?"

Sydney sucked in a nervous breath and shook her head, "no, not really."

"What's wrong?" Derek pressed and she raised her hand, running her fingers through her hair in a nervous gesture. "Syd, talk to me."

"I don't know, I just…I miss you, I miss you and I miss Peter and I don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore." She confessed.

"Syd, you're fine okay, breathe and calm down." Derek egged her on and she sucked in a big gulp of air, holding it for a few seconds before letting it out. "Do that again."

She followed Derek's instructions and took another large gulp of air, holding it and letting it out. She could feel her heart starting to slow down and when Derek's low chuckle sounded out in her ear, she matched it with one of her own.

"Do werewolves have nervous breakdowns?" She asked in a teasing manner and Derek snorted at her question. "Or panic attacks?"

"I don't see why not." Derek stated calmly. "Being a werewolf is completely overwhelming sometimes, being an alpha makes the anxiety so much worse on a bad day."

"No kidding." She huffed. "How did you do it? How did you stay so calm when you were an alpha?"

"You think I was calm?" Derek fired back at her, but she could hear the jesting tone to his voice. "Syd, I went to bed every night fearing what the next day would bring, part of me envies you, at least you have experienced betas, I had three brand new-"

"Puppies." Sydney cut him off with a snicker. "Yeah, you probably could've done that a little better."

"I definitely could've done it a little better." He countered. "Look, you'll be okay, you're a good person."

"Okay." She nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"And if you want me to, I think I might be able to head your way sooner rather than later." Derek sounded hesitant and Sydney wasn't going to jump at his offer, no, she didn't want to scare him away. This was a delicate situation, she needed to let him know that she wanted to see him without seeming too desperate.

"That'd be nice, you'd get to meet Bruin." Sydney said softly. "I think that'd be good for the both of you."

"She's a pretty big factor in why I even considered this."

"That's okay by me." Sydney replied. "When do you think you'd be coming then?"

"I could leave here tonight, be there in the next day or so."

She felt her heart pick up in speed from the sheer excitement at the idea of having Derek back with her, even if it was just for a little while. She missed him, she missed him so much, and she knew that he might be just what she needed at that very minute. He was still her best friend and he always would be, nothing would ever change that.

"That sounds good, _really_ good."

"Okay. I'll text you before I leave then?"

"Yeah." Sydney held her breath and waited for his goodbye.

"See you later Syd."

"See you _soon_." She countered, letting her breath out and hoping that Derek would be back in Beacon Hills before anything else went wrong.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

By the time Sydney had finished pulling herself back together, and even watching Bruin sleeping for just a few minutes, she felt a little better about the entire situation, but not a lot. With one last look into the crib, she took off for the hallway and bounded down the stairs, heading right for the back door of the house.

When she stepped outside, she took note that Charlie was sitting on the ground next to Josh, who was wrapped up in a whole bunch of blankets, chains dangling out of the openings that she could see. Crossing the yard, she closed in on the rest of her pack, taking up a stance between the twins and following their gaze downwards, each and every one of them looking at Charlie.

"I couldn't find a tarp." She whined and leaned over Josh's unmoving form. "And it's getting colder out here."

"So what do you want me to do?" Sydney posed calmly, asking her beta with genuine interest. "Do you have options to propose to us?"

"She wants to take him into the house." Aidan spoke up and rolled his eyes at his fellow beta. "Naturally Ethan and I are more than just slightly against that."

"Well that's fair." Sydney nodded but put her hands on her hips, considering Charlie's idea of taking the kid inside. "How big of a threat do you believe him to be?"

"Not a threat at all." Charlie responded with a shake of her head. "He's barely alive and I'm not entirely sure what happened to him, but I don't even know if he's still supernatural or not."

"How does that even happen?" Ethan shot back. "You don't just turn back to human-"

"What if Theo _did_ something to him, something else?" Charlie cut him off and leveled her eyes on Sydney, staring right at her alpha. "What if he-"

"Let me go into his memories." Sydney piped up and dropped down to her knees on the grass beside Josh. She raised her hand up and forced her claws out, reaching around to the back of Josh's neck and resting the razor sharp tips against his skin. "Maybe I can see what happened, maybe I can figure out if Theo actually did something to him or if this is just because of the Dread Doctors."

"Is he strong enough to handle that?" Charlie quipped in a low tone. "I mean, can he even handle that sort of thing right now, he's barely alive as it is."

"If you want him inside, I get to look into his memories." Sydney proposed. "Other than that, he can stay outside but I'll go buy a tarp for him."

Charlie blew out a breath and held her alpha's gaze for a few seconds before slowly and cautiously nodding her head yes. She'd let Sydney invade his mind in order to see what he had gone through, she'd allow her alpha to attempt to figure out what happened to him, but the second that she was done, Charlie was going to be taking him inside, with or without the rest of the pack's help.

Josh didn't deserve any of what had happened to him, he had been forced to be a part of Theo's sick plan from the start. It wasn't like Josh had asked to be genetically and supernaturally altered to become the abomination that he had.

"Please be careful." Charlie pleaded and let her eyes fall shut, giving in to her alpha and letting Sydney take control. She kept her weak hold on Josh but helped roll him just slightly to the side, giving Sydney better access to the back of his neck.

Sydney drummed the tips of her claws against his skin before plunging her talons into his flesh, feeling the warm drizzle of blood coating her fingertips. She let her eyes fall shut as she sifted through his memories in search of the most recent one involving Theo.

" _You want me to put it on?" Josh asked as he pressed his palms against a worn out old table in the middle of Theo's lair. Residing on top of the wooden surface was a gnarly looking version of a Dread Doctor's head, or was it a mask? Did they have heads like that or were they all just wearing masks over flesh? Hell Sydney didn't know, but she wondered if maybe she was about to find out._

" _You won't die if you put it on." Tracy piped up from across the room. Josh's eyes were locked on the head but at the conclusion of her statement, he turned towards her. Theo wasn't too far away either, the familiar smug look plastered on his stupid smug face._

" _How do you know that? Or is it just that you don't want to put it on yourself?" Josh fired back and stole a look over at Tracy, then he stared directly at Theo. "Or you?"_

" _I'm not afraid to do it, Josh, I'm just not stupid." Theo replied calmly, crossing his arms over his chest._

" _Are you not getting that it could kill us? You're the one with the power." Tracy added, taking one small step towards him._

" _They want you to wear it, Josh, because the properties of the mask are based in electro-magnetism. Pick it up and you'll see." Deucalion piped up from his position on the floor._

 _Josh, who also had his arms crossed at this point in time, let the idea marinate for a few seconds before he reluctantly faced the mask once again. He hesitated with his hands hovering mere inches away from the material before he gripped it, a hand on either side and then turned back around so that his back was to the table, the head firmly gripped in his hands._

" _What is this thing?" Josh asked, anxiety flooding through his body._

" _Product of genius and madness, two traits too often found in the same mind. The man who created the first was known only as 'The Surgeon' using practices in the farthest edges of pseudo-science. He harnessed electromagnetic fields in the masks infusing them with a unique and deadly power." Deucalion explained, Josh moved the mask closer to his face, the shadow of it eclipsing his head, but before he had given up his chance to turn back, he stopped his movements and set the mask back on the edge of the table._

" _I'm not putting this thing on." Josh argued, rounding on Theo. "You want to know who it is? Do it yourself."_

 _Josh stomped away from the mask, coming to a stop a few feet away from the wall of the lair. He crossed his arms over his chest and fixed a pointed look at his leader and the girl with him. Tracy pressed her palms against the hard, rough concrete making up the level above them and without hesitating for a split second, she pushed herself away and marched out of the lair._

 _Josh remained where he was standing, not budging an inch and when Tracy finally came back, she had a small jar in her possession, a jar filled with long, unusually curved talons. Theo sauntered towards the center of the room, meeting the girl at the surface not too far away from himself._

" _What about these?" Tracy asked, setting them on the table._

" _They're useless if we don't know who it is." Theo remarked._

" _Actually, they're just useless. Didn't Hayden mention that? Where is she, by the way? I hope her moment of dissent didn't turn into actual desertion." Deucalion spoke again, pausing to inhale a deep, long breath. "What about the other one? Corey? None of us can see him, blind or otherwise, so, I'm guessing, he's not here either."_

" _I'm leaving." Josh pushed himself away from the wall of the lair and made a move towards the door, the only exit that Sydney could see within the room._

" _Oh, there goes another. Your circle of trust is narrowing for you." Deucalion taunted and Sydney wondered what exactly he was trying to do. Sure this was Josh's memory and she was hoping to gain insight into what had happened to the chimera but there wasn't a lack of interest in Deucalion either._

 _He had a plan, he had something up his sleeve, and he certainly wasn't quiet about it._

" _Your voice is getting on my nerves. Paralyze his tongue." Theo commanded and Tracy walked closer to the Demon Wolf._

" _Got it." She forced her claws out and when she was within reach, Deucalion's body jerked._

" _Tell me something, Tracy, just how powerless were you before this all happened? In my experience, it's the truly powerless who are all too eager to demonstrate their new-found strength. So allow me to demonstrate something more helpful to our cause: trust."_

 _Her eyes were locked on Deucalion, stuck to the older man as he rose up to his feet weakly, inhaling a deep breath. He straightened up, he was standing at his full height and Sydney couldn't help but be awed by the sight of him so effortlessly countering Theo's attempts to subdue him._

 _Deucalion drummed his fingers up his forearm, over the mechanical aspects of the piece of equipment on his arm. When he reached the part of the tube nearest the insides of his elbow, he spoke again._

" _I told you I wanted Scott McCall's eyes, that's why I let you take me." He gripped the tube with his fingers and heaved the end of it out from his veins. "And why I have been a willing guest this entire time."_

 _The thing that had been wrapped around his arm fell to the cold, hard floor with a mechanical clink, suddenly each and every member of Theo's pack, including Josh, were looking at Deucalion. But what did this have to do with what happened to Josh, what was going to happen in this memory that would explain things?_

 _Had she hit the wrong thought, the wrong part of Josh's brain, or was this all a part of what she wanted to know?_

" _Okay, what now?" Theo said, breaking the dramatic silence that had fallen over them all._

" _I teach you what you've been so desperate to learn." Deucalion countered and before Sydney could see what was going to happen, he lunged right at Theo, pushing him backwards with all of the strength that he had. Theo was struggling in his grasp but Sydney knew that he wasn't one to give up a fight that easily, no, Theo wouldn't give in, not until he had absolutely no choice. When he had a firm grip on Theo's hand, Deucalion forced it backwards and snapped the bones, the breaking and cracking easily heard within the lair. "Feel that, Theo? That's the secret to taking power: pain. Take their pain, take their life, take their power, it's all or nothing._

 _Deucalion threw Theo across the room where the boy landed against the wall and crumpled to the floor before making his way into a crouch. Sydney heard Theo snapping the bones back into place, she knew how truly painful it was to do such a thing, yet Theo hadn't even hesitated, he barely even let out a grunt of pain._

" _You take until there's nothing more to give, that's where you find the spark of power, and then, you take that as well. Pain. Life. Power. In that order and only that order, do you understand?" Deucalion asked from his stance across the room. Well for someone who was so much more experienced than Theo, he certainly had a flair for dramatics._

" _Perfectly." Theo responded from his crouch on the floor._

 _Slowly and maliciously, Theo rose up to his full height. When he looked directly at Josh, Sydney could see the venomous look in his eyes. Whatever he planned on doing, well it most certainly wasn't going to be good. Was this the part of Josh's memory where she found out what Theo had actually done to him? Was this the part where Theo Raeken nearly killed him and left him in the lair to die?_

 _Theo flicked his wrist sideways and forced his claws out, Sydney continued to watch the memory unfold, desperately trying to figure out the outcome before she saw it. She didn't know what was about to happen but she knew what the result was: Josh, on the brink of death, only saved by Sydney and her fellow betas._

 _Josh's body jerked backwards on the small stairway and Sydney was reduced to watching as Theo drove his claws into the boy's abdomen. Sparks and electricity erupted from Josh's body and he fell backwards, his hands gripping the railing and clinging to them for dear life._

 _This had to be it, this had to be what had caused Josh to be unconscious and barely moving when they had arrived at the lair._

 _Josh's teeth grew long and pointed and he let out a guttural scream of pain. She couldn't help but feel for the kid, hell, it wasn't like he had asked to be a part of Theo's pack from the start, in fact, none of the chimeras had_ _ **asked**_ _to be changed. That in itself was cruel, it was torturous and Sydney suddenly felt that maybe they needed her help now more than ever._

 _If Theo had so easily turned on Josh, someone who had been nothing but loyal in his crusade, what did that mean for the remaining chimeras that were standing with him?_

 _Theo's war cries mixed with Josh's ear piercing screams of pain and after a little longer, Theo and Josh struggling for the upper hand, Josh collapsed against the stairs, his body going limp and his fingers falling away from the railing. Sydney fought to stay within the memory but suddenly her vision became blurry and without warning, she was enveloped in darkness._

"Syd!" Charlie's voice pulled her back from the memory and she felt her entire body tense up at the recollection of what she had just seen. She freed her claws from Josh's neck and shifted away from his limp form.

"It was Theo." Sydney gasped and leaned into her beta's hold. "Theo did this to him, but I'm not entirely sure what."

"Can we…can we take him inside then?" Charlie murmured and ran her fingers through Sydney's hair in a soothing gesture. "He doesn't have to stay outside, right?"

"No." Sydney shook her head but didn't move away from Charlie, not yet anyways. "I guess not. But I want-"

"We'll get him into the basement, we'll keep watch and make sure he doesn't try anything." Ethan broke in and Sydney couldn't help but smile. "We got this, right Aidan?"

Aidan glanced towards his brother and gave him a firm nod, then he bent down and offered Sydney a hand, which she immediately took. Hauling his alpha to her feet, Aidan made sure she was stable before releasing his hold on her, then they both looked down at Charlie, who hand a hand on the back of Josh's neck, where Sydney's claws had _just_ been.

"Thank you." Charlie nodded at them and Sydney waved her hand at Charlie, signaling that all was okay within the pack. She had bigger things on her mind, a larger threat to consider.

As Sydney retreated back to the house, she couldn't help but wonder what the hell Deucalion had been trying to do in Josh's memory, but she knew that she was a little nervous to find out.


	60. Chapter 60

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 60** **:**_

It wasn't hard finding the twins early the next morning, Sydney knew where they would be and since Josh had spent the night chained up and cocooned in blankets in the basement, it was a welcome sight to know that they were right there with him. Charlie was camped out in the kitchen, munching away on a bowl of cereal all the while stealing glances at the closed basement door.

When Sydney, who was carrying a half sleeping Bruin in her arms, wandered in and lowered herself down into the chair next to her beta, she let out a yawn and adjusted her hold on her daughter, making sure that they were both a little more comfortable.

"Good morning." Charlie beamed and shoveled another spoonful of cereal into her mouth, chewing it with her mouth closed like any polite person. Sydney stole a look into the bowl and noticed that she was nearing the end of her breakfast, which was perfect timing because that meant maybe she could take Bruin while Sydney got food of her own. "Sleep well?"

"I did, so did Bruin." Sydney answered simply and leaned down, pressing a kiss against the top of Bruin's head. "And you?"

Charlie finished chewing the bite in her mouth, swallowing it down and then speaking, "I did actually, really well. I'm so glad that you let Josh stay in the house for the night, I think if I had to sleep knowing he was outside all on his own-"

"Nope, I never would've left him all alone. I would've had one, or both, of the twins at the back door, keeping guard. His only chance of escape then would be to leave because he'd be no match for either of the twins." Sydney cut her off and smirked at her, a knowing look etched on her face. "Don't worry, I had all of our bases covered."

"I can tell." Charlie nodded, matching her smile with one of her own. "I really appreciate what you did for him though, you didn't have to bring Josh back here, hell, you could've left him there to die, or to face Theo's wrath if he managed to survive on his own."

"Well as much as I don't trust Josh, I don't trust Theo even more. Obviously there was a reason why he did what he did to Josh and I can't picture him going crawling back to a kid who tried to kill him. Wouldn't you agree?" Sydney quipped and locked her eyes on Charlie, studying the side of her beta's head and waiting patiently for a response.

"Yeah, you have a point. How do you think he's doing today anyways?" Charlie asked and scooped another bite of her breakfast into her mouth.

"With any luck we'll be able to release him back into the wild today." Sydney teased.

Charlie cocked her head sideways and the smile fell away from her face, which she quickly replaced with a look of disgust. Sydney raised her one hand in surrender and forced an awkward laugh out over her lips, hoping that Charlie would see that she was just kidding.

"By back into the wild you mean…" Charlie baited and Sydney sucked in a breath.

"Back to his real family: his mom and dad if he has one, his siblings if he has any of those. I'm not sending him back to Theo." Sydney remarked. "I guess maybe I could send him to Deaton too, so that he can get checked over."

Charlie nodded her understanding and finished the last few bites of her cereal before lifting the bowl up and drinking the milk remaining in the dish. Sydney remained quiet and simply watched the girl, studying her and wondering how she had even managed to be as lucky to find such a level-headed, intelligent and strong omega werewolf like Charlie.

It wasn't like Sydney had gone looking for a beta, no, not even close, it had been a total coincidence that she had run into the girl in Colorado. Charlie had proven, time and time again, to be just what Sydney needed in a beta and she wasn't going to be letting her get away any time soon.

"If he's still supernatural, are you going to talk to him about joining the pack?" Charlie asked, breaking Sydney out of her trance. She gave a slight shake of her head as she attempted to free her mind and when she managed to pull herself together, she let out a sigh and debated how best to answer Charlie's question.

On one hand, Sydney could just let him go and never think of him again, hoping against all odds that he'd be able to make it on his own. On the other hand, she knew that if he _was_ still supernatural that he was going to need some sort of guidance and she was well equipped to handle that aspect.

But what if he wasn't supernatural at all? What if what Theo had done to him had left him hopelessly human?

"I don't know Charlie." Sydney answered honestly and shifted her butt against the hard wooden seat of the chair. "That's a pretty loaded question and I don't have an answer."

"But would you at least consider offering him a place within our pack?" Charlie pressed but winced at the soft sigh that escaped her alpha.

"I would at least bring it up to the twins and see how they felt, we could have a discussion about him. It's not as cut and dry as just offering him a place in an already established pack, especially if he was on Theo's side before he nearly died." Sydney explained as best as she could without bluntly stating that she didn't want to have to deal with that possibility. She just wanted him to get better and go back to his own life, was that so much to ask for? Was that a cruel way of thinking?

"Speaking of twins…" Charlie segued and Sydney rolled her eyes at her, "Should I go see how they're doing with Josh?"

"If you want." Sydney sighed and rose up to her feet at the very same time that Charlie did. Charlie headed over to the kitchen sink and set her dirty dishes against the stainless steel basin before stepping towards the basement door and lingering just outside of it.

"Wish me luck." Charlie joked and wrapped her fingers around the doorknob.

Sydney held her breath and watched as her beta turned the knob, freeing the door from the frame and forcing it open. She didn't say a word as Charlie disappeared down the stairs and it was only when she heard one of the twins wish her a 'good morning' that Sydney let out the breath she had been holding.

Trying to distract herself, Sydney made herself busy in the kitchen, working around the counter and cupboards as she attempted to get Bruin a bottle for breakfast. She had successfully tuned out most of the sounds and ignored most of the smells erupting from the basement but when Ethan poked his head through the open door, she paused in her movements and met his gaze, hoping that he didn't hold bad news.

"Josh seems better today." Ethan announced as he climbed the remaining stairs, stepping into the kitchen and leaving the door open behind him. "I think he'll be fine."

Sydney nodded her head and waited for Ethan to get closer to her but he never made it to her, instead, a rough knock on the door broke through the house and immediately set Ethan into alert. His body tensed as he cautiously made his way towards the front door and Sydney cradled Bruin a little tighter against her chest as she too headed in the direction of the front.

"Smell that?" Sydney questioned and ran her hand over the back of Bruin's head, hoping to keep the baby settled and calm for the time being. "What's _he_ want?"

"Dear girl, I'm just here to have a word." Deucalion's accented drawl sounded out through the door. Sydney wasn't sure whether to trust him or not but then again, it wasn't like she had ever done anything to him to warrant his wrath.

That didn't mean that he wouldn't still harbor some sort of resentment towards the twins though, after all, they hadn't done what he had required of them and they had turned their backs on their leader.

"You're supposed to be in Theo's lair. We were there earlier and you were gone, so tell me, what the hell are you doing?" Sydney shouted through the doorway and nodded at Ethan to take up a stance in front of it. He'd be the buffer, the protection for Bruin that would stand between Deucalion and his alpha. Ethan moved swiftly and planted himself exactly where he felt he needed to be, then he reached out and set his fingers on the deadbolt, preparing himself to unlock the door if that was what Sydney wished.

"Plans change." Deucalion sounded bored more than anything and without thinking too much about it, Sydney gave Ethan another nod, letting him know that it was okay if he unlocked the door.

Once the bolt was free, she waited for the man to try to get inside but she didn't hear any movement, nor did she see the door handle move. Ethan stole a quick look over his shoulder and Sydney shrugged in response, Ethan immediately pulling the door open to reveal a calm, cool and collected Deucalion.

"What are you doing here?" Ethan asked, his voice bordering on a growl.

"I was just in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd swing by." Deucalion answered sardonically, Sydney scoffing at his words. "It would seem that our dear Theo is turning on his pack. Be forewarned, if you're planning on heading back to his lair as you so nicely called it, you're going to find a body."

"A body?" Sydney narrowed her eyes in on him. "Theo's body?"

"No," Deucalion shook his head, "Tracy's. It seems Theo's a little harder on his betas than you and I."

Ethan let out a low growl at the man's statement but stayed firm with his stance. Sydney held her breath and waited for the man on her front porch to explain more but when Deucalion made no attempt to say anything, she let out a frustrated sigh of her own.

"We've got Josh in the basement." Sydney admitted and reached a hand out, setting it on Ethan's shoulder in a silent command for him to relax. "Do you know what exactly Theo did to him?"

"Perhaps I do." Deucalion countered. "It's the very same thing that Theo did to Tracy, except she didn't make it through the night."

"Okay, and what exactly _did_ he do to them?" Ethan piped up. "And why are you here?"

"I'm here to propose an alliance." Deucalion answered and Sydney listened to his heartbeat, trying to pick up on any signs of deceit. "I'm here because I know how much of an asset having you on my side is and if I tell you what Theo did to his betas, then maybe we all have a better chance-"

"We?" Sydney cut him off and took a step forward. She ignored the warning snarl rumbling in Ethan's chest, she bypassed him completely and came face to face with the Demon Wolf himself, Bruin still curled against her chest. "Who's we?"

"Me and Scott McCall." Deucalion answered, as though it was the simplest answer ever. Sydney furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion and Deucalion let out a soft sigh. "You didn't think I just showed up here on my own accord now did you? I truly believed you were more intelligent than that."

Sydney took her opportunity and looked him up and down, studying his form in front of her very eyes. She noticed that he wasn't using a cane, which was odd considering he was supposed to be blind, but when she looked up at his face, his eyes shielded by sunglasses, she watched and waited patiently as he pulled the shades off, revealing his eyes.

His eyes, what the hell was going on, they were supposed to be clouded over and muted but they looked like any other pair of eyes she had ever seen. Did that mean he was better? That he hadn't lost his sight again after the last time that she had seen him in Beacon Hills?

"What?" Sydney gaped and took a step closer to him, desperate to get a better look at his eyes, his perfectly normal, unharmed eyes. "Wait, what's going on here?"

"Theo's not in control, not like he believes himself to be." Deucalion answered cryptically and Sydney fought off the urge to sigh at him. "I was brought here, I'm what some might call a 'contingency plan'."

"So you're not actually working _with_ Theo, you're here because of someone else?" Ethan baited, sensing his alpha's confusion. It wasn't hard for him to feel confused either, it wasn't like there was a lot of people with knowledge of the supernatural, or even Deucalion's existence. "Someone brought you here?"

"Scott." Sydney mumbled and raised her head up a tiny bit, standing straighter and with a little more confidence than she had been all of two seconds earlier. "You're here to help Scott aren't you? This whole time that you were in Theo's lair was just a ruse, a cover, right? That's why you didn't want to leave with me when you had the chance; this is all a part of the plan, isn't it?"

"I always knew you were smarter than people gave you credit for, especially that mongrel Peter Hale, how _is_ he by the way?" Deucalion quipped and Sydney sucked in a nervous breath, not entirely sure that she wanted to breach the subject with him. "Oh, is he not here? Is that why I don't smell him around? I knew there had to be a reason why the scent of your home was much less putrid than I was anticipating."

"He's not here, no." Sydney shook her head sadly. "But he would be if he could."

"Trouble in paradise?" Deucalion prodded at the very same time that Bruin let out a loud coo. "Did he not take too kindly to his little one?"

Sydney clenched her jaw and wondered what exactly Deucalion knew. He had already stated that he was aware Peter wasn't around, and it was clear that he had deducted that Bruin was Peter's child, but was that the extent of his knowledge or was there more that he was already aware of? Was he merely baiting her, trying to gain as much information from her as he could?

"Scott, let's get back to Scott." Ethan broke in, pulling the conversation back to the topic of _why_ Deucalion was even in the town to start with. "You're working with Scott, against Theo, is that close?"

"Spot on." Deucalion's demeanor seemed to perk up the slightest bit. "Now I see why she kept you when I let you go."

"You didn't-" Sydney started but Ethan raised a hand, insisting that she stop speaking. Sydney shook her head and hoped for the best possible outcome on her front porch. She didn't want to see a pissing contest, she didn't want to see the two males get into a wrestling match, she simply wanted to get information from Deucalion and send him on his way without too much interference.

"Moving on." Deucalion raised his own hand and waved Ethan off, watching as her beta seemed to back down. "What do you say here dear Sydney, do we have an alliance or not?"

"First you tell me what Theo did to Josh." Sydney pressed and kept her eyes locked with his. "You tell me if he's going to survive."

"If that boy is still breathing at this point in time, then I have no doubts that he'll most likely survive." Deucalion answered nonchalantly.

"What did Theo do?" Sydney echoed her question from earlier, a question that Deucalion still had yet to answer.

"He took his powers, he drained him of all that made him supernatural. Not to fear Sydney, Josh won't have to become a member of anyone else's pack, unless you feel obligated to bite him yourself."

"So he's human again?" Sydney cocked her head sideways. "Just like that, Theo steals his supernatural spark and leaves Josh the same way that he found him?"

"In simplistic terms, yes." Deucalion smiled at her. "But it's not as easy as you're thinking, it takes a certain skill, a special person, someone as inherently evil as Theo Raeken. But that's neither here nor there, now, what do you say, _do_ we have an _alliance_?"

"Against Theo?" She questioned and Deucalion bowed his head. "If you're against Theo and you want nothing more than to rip his heart out, then you've got an alliance."

"I wasn't exactly gunning for his heart but if that's something that you feel inclined to do, then I most certainly won't stand in your way." Deucalion countered with a smirk. "I would much rather be on your side than against you."

"Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing." Sydney snorted.

"Then we're in agreement, yes?"

Sydney peeked back at Ethan, who gave her the tiniest little nod imaginable. Apparently he was all for his current alpha and his former alpha to be on the same side. Deucalion had a point, it certainly seemed like a better idea to be working together than against one another. Ethan had been on the opposing side of Deucalion once before and it hadn't exactly turned out all that well.

"I won't get in your way, nor will I harm you, and you won't do the same." Sydney proposed and Deucalion took a step towards her, leaving very little space between their bodies. He extended his hand to her, lifted his sunglasses up and covered his eyes once again while he waited for Sydney to take his hand.

When she did, she felt the warmth of his skin in her grasp and a bit of comfort that she hadn't been anticipating. So long as Deucalion didn't turn on her, then everything would work out okay, right?

She had to keep believing that, she had to have faith in the Demon Wolf. Deucalion was a good man once and he could be a good man again. If he was working with Scott, that had to mean that he wasn't the same person that he had been the last time she had confronted him.

"Your mother would be proud of you." Deucalion murmured and hesitantly made a move to pull his hand out of hers. She let go of him and ran her fingers down Bruin's back, drawing the formerly blind alpha's attention back to the little girl in her grasp. "She might've hoped that you'd grow old with someone much less homicidal but we're all works in progress now aren't we?"

"You knew my mother." Sydney breathed the words out. "Did you know her well?"

"Well enough. She was a wonderful woman."

"Thanks." Sydney whimpered and her mind flitted to her vague childhood memories containing her parents. "I hope that we can remain allies even after this all blows over."

Deucalion nodded his head in agreement and turned on his heels. Sydney watched him as he carefully stepped down off of the front porch and down the driveway. When he was nearly out of sight, she turned back towards Ethan and sucked in a breath, holding it for a second before letting it out. He maneuvered around her and guided her safely inside the house, shutting and bolting the front door behind her.

Sydney headed back towards the kitchen but bypassed the table and chairs and immediately descended the stairs to the basement, the tell-tale sounds of Ethan's footsteps following her lead echoed from behind her. Once she was on the basement floor, Sydney moseyed on into the spare room where Josh was residing, still curled up in a cocoon of blankets and still with the chains coming out of the openings of his makeshift swaddle.

Charlie peered up at her from her seat on the floor next to a slumbering Josh and shot her a questioning gaze. It was obvious that her betas in the basement had heard every word of what had gone on outside the front door and now they were eager to hear it right from her lips.

"Theo doesn't stand a chance, you know that right?" Charlie spoke first, Sydney nodding her head yes in agreement. If he had maybe stood a chance before, Theo most definitely didn't at this point in time. He had Scott and his pack against him, Sydney and her pack, _and_ Deucalion, the infamous Demon Wolf, on the opposing side.

If Theo was figuring on coming out of the whole situation with a win in his column, then he was sorely mistaken. The numbers were against him, the power wasn't on his side and he didn't stand a chance, especially now that he was pretty much on his own. He had destroyed the loyalty he had once had from his betas, he had tried to kill one of his chimeras and successfully killed a second, at least according to Deucalion. So what exactly _was_ Theo's plan? What was his end game and how could he possibly believe that he was going to reach his goal?

"He never did." Sydney answered venomously and without another word, she disappeared up the stairs, leaving her betas to huddle around the fallen form of one of Theo's once powerful, and feared, chimeras.

"Sometimes I'm glad I'm on her team." Aidan remarked with a teasing smile. "She's fierce when she wants to be."

"No kidding." Charlie muttered and set her palms on either side of Josh's neck. She gently pressed her fingers against his skin and focused on drawing out his pain, which was something she was continually trying to do in order to help him. Ethan lowered himself down to the floor next to her and fished Josh's hand out from the blankets before he too began drawing out the boy's pain.

"According to Deucalion, Josh should be fine." Ethan pointed out in a low tone.

"We heard. We also heard that he's 'hopelessly human'." Charlie chuckled and shook her head at the very words that her alpha had used. "As soon as he's back on his feet, I'll figure out the best way to get him back home."

"Good plan." Aidan threw out. "If he's human then he doesn't need a pack."

"Exactly." Charlie dropped her gaze down and studied the peaceful expression on Josh's sleeping face. "It's just too bad we couldn't have saved Tracy."

"Sometimes Charlie, there are battles that we can't win. We're lucky we got to Josh in time to keep him alive." Ethan stated, his voice somber and sad. "Come on, let's get him upstairs and onto the couch where it's a little more comfortable. If he's human then he'd be completely stupid to even _try_ anything in a house full of werewolves."

Aidan bent over and aided his brother in getting Josh up and off the floor. Charlie never broke her hold on him and drew out his pain the entire time that he was being moved. Once Josh was propped upright, Aidan took up residence on one side and Ethan took up residence on the other, supporting the wounded former chimera with ease.

"Charlie, grab the keys to the chains, I don't think we're going to need them anymore." Aidan suggested. "Hey, maybe we could even take him to the hospital now that we know he's not supernatural."

"Good point. I'll go tell Syd, see what she says." Charlie offered and ignored his request for the keys for the time being. Charlie took off in a mad dash and managed to run into Sydney in the kitchen, this time her alpha was holding a bottle in her hand while Bruin sucked on the end.

"The hospital sounds like a good idea but let the twins go on their own and they're only going to be dropping him off, understood?" Sydney said before Charlie could even open her mouth.

Sydney couldn't help but smile at the muffled replies of 'understood' coming from the twins down in the basement. It was a smoother start to the day than even she had been anticipating.


	61. Chapter 61

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 61** **:**_

Sydney sat in the living room with Bruin sleeping soundly against her chest. The little girl was warm snuggled up in her soft, plush blanket and, with the extra heat being soaked up from Sydney's body, she knew that Bruin would be out for a while. There was a certain something in a mother's embrace that seemed to relax the baby and Sydney knew that Bruin would always be protected, she'd always be safe.

There wasn't anything on the face of the planet that would harm Bruin so long as Sydney was breathing. But that was part of the issue wasn't it? That was the concern weighing heavily on Sydney's mind. She knew first hand that parents could be ripped away without a second thought or without a chance to fight, so what was going to stop something from happening to Sydney herself?

She had a pack, yes, and she knew that they'd fight for her so as long as they could, but she had already dreamed of them being taken out before her. The fact of the matter was, there could one day be a threat that was bigger, stronger, faster and scarier than each and every member of her pack combined, hell, that threat was already here, lingering in the shadows of Beacon Hills.

The Beast was on the loose, there was a giant, nearly indestructible werewolf running around causing havoc everywhere it went, and wasn't that just icing on the cake? The cake itself had ingredients like Theo Raeken and the Dread Doctors, two more very real threats that were ever present within the town limits.

Sydney wasn't afraid of Theo though, not by a long shot. He still had no idea what she was truly capable of and if there ever came a time when she was face to face with him again, then she'd gladly show him what she could do. She'd rip his heart out of his chest and hold it, still beating, in her hand while the life faded out of his eyes. She'd break every bone in his body that she could and watch his limbs balloon and swell from the fluid surrounding the fractures.

The Dread Doctors though, now they were a different story.

While she hadn't exactly fought them hand to hand, she knew from the stories that she had heard, that they were quite the enemy to have. They didn't lie down and die and they were fierce without really putting any effort into it either. The Dread Doctors were something that Sydney didn't take lightly, but then again, she felt that she could probably fight her way out of a situation where they'd come face to face. She'd give it her all until she could get away and hide, knowing that that wasn't a fight she'd win on her own.

But dealing with the Dread Doctors wasn't something on the forefront of her mind, no, she was much more concerned with Theo and the Beast itself. She wanted to know more about Deucalion's plan, she wanted to know what Scott had in mind and how the True Alpha had convinced the Demon Wolf to show up in Beacon Hills to start with. What were the two of them planning and would their plan hold up when it was put into place?

Deucalion wasn't someone who walked into a situation without having thought many moves ahead. He'd never waltz into anywhere without knowing what he was dealing with and knowing who exactly his enemy was. His moves were calculated, his 'i's' were dotted and his 't's' were crossed before the plan was put into place.

It was things like that, things like Deucalion's meticulous plans, that reminded her of Peter. Peter would never walk into a situation where he didn't have the outcome planned in his head, he'd never do anything without being at least one move ahead of everyone else.

Maybe that had been Peter's downfall, maybe he hadn't been counting on Sydney, or maybe she hadn't played her part like she was supposed to. Until she had shown up at his doorstep, he had been alone, it had been him and no one else. She had thrown him for a loop, she had been the reason why his plots didn't always go smoothly, but Peter hadn't been on the right side, no, he had tried to go after Scott.

Scott was a good kid, he was a decent ally to have, and there hadn't been anything that Peter could've said to convince her otherwise. If his plan before heading to Mexico had been to double cross Kate, then maybe she would've been all in, ready to back him up, but that hadn't been his plan at all and to this day, she still didn't understand why Peter had chosen to align himself with someone as psychotic and murderous as Kate Argent.

"You better grow up to be like me." Sydney murmured and pressed a gentle kiss against the crown of Bruin's head. "If you grow up to be like your dad-"

"I don't think that'll happen." Charlie's voice sounded out in the living room and Sydney jerked her head around, immediately locking her eyes on her beta, who was wandering into the room. She paused and lowered herself down onto the vacant couch cushion next to Sydney, then she leaned against her shoulder and rested her head there, a mere few inches from Bruin's slumbering form. "You wouldn't let her grow up to be like Peter."

"I wouldn't? You think I could stop that if I really wanted to?" Sydney countered and Charlie let out a soft sigh. She lifted her arm up and ran her fingers down Sydney's bicep, trying to provide her alpha with the tiniest bit of comfort that she could manage.

"You can do anything you want." Charlie offered back nonchalantly. "You are capable of almost anything."

"Yeah but Peter is a very, _very_ stubborn person. If Bruin here is even half as stubborn, then we're all in for a world of trouble." Sydney remarked.

"Maybe but you're her mom. You have me and the twins backing you up. When she gets older, and _if_ she's as stubborn as you think she might be, she'll have to deal with all of us and not just you."

"Yeah." Sydney snorted and pictured an adolescent Bruin standing across from Sydney _and_ the rest of the pack. It'd be one young girl against four grown werewolves with years of experience under their belts. Maybe Charlie had a point, maybe Sydney had nothing to worry about when it came to Bruin and her potentially growing up to be like Peter.

"Plus look at Malia, she's okay and genetically she's part Peter Hale." Charlie pointed out with a smirk. "I mean, in all fairness she didn't grow up with him in her life-"

"She spent eight years roaming around the preserve in her animal form. She's come a long way and you're right, she's pretty much fine."

"Aside from a few awkward social skills, she's pretty much fine for sure." Charlie joked and managed to get Sydney to crack a smile. "You worry too much about Peter's effect on Bruin when he's not even around to do any real damage to her."

"Yeah but he _could_ come back." Sydney said firmly and Charlie offered her an awkward half shrug in response. "You don't think he'll come back?"

Charlie blew out a breath and carefully peeled herself away from Sydney's side. She turned on the couch and faced her alpha, tucking her feet under her bum and resting her palms on her knees.

"I think he'll be back, don't get me wrong, but when that time comes, he's going to have to get used to a lot of changes when it comes to you." Charlie explained. "You're a really good alpha, you're a great mom and you have one of the strongest packs I've ever seen. If Peter thinks he can just show up and be in control, then he's got another thing coming."

"So you don't think I'll just bend to his will?" Sydney countered with a worried expression on her face. "You don't think that I'll just let him take over?"

"Do you think that?" Charlie leaned forward and waited for Sydney to consider her question.

Was that really what she was worried about? Was Sydney more concerned with what she was going to do when Peter showed back up that she hadn't thought about the rest of her pack's reaction? If she bent to Peter's every whim, then yes, there'd certainly be disruption in the ranks, but Charlie had faith in her alpha, she knew Sydney and she was well aware of how passionate she was about her pack.

But if Sydney was scared that she'd be the downfall of her own pack, then didn't Charlie have to remind her that she wasn't a weak person?

"I don't know." Sydney huffed in frustration. "I'd like to think that I can handle my own but Peter's highly manipulative and he's only out for himself."

"True but I still think he'd have a hard time winning in a fight against you _and_ the rest of the pack." Charlie grinned. "Peter Hale might be strong, he might be brilliant, but he does not have loyal betas like you do backing him up. Remember, you're not alone anymore."

"You're right." Sydney bowed her head and glanced down at the baby in her arms. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Charlie smiled.

A comfortable silence fell over them and Charlie readjusted her butt in the cushion, going back to her initial position on the couch of leaning against Sydney's side. They remained that way for a few minutes, neither one of them daring to move an inch, and if it hadn't been for the front door opening, they might've stayed that way for most of the afternoon.

Aidan and Ethan had disturbed them though and when Sydney took a deep inhale of the air around her, she caught the scent of none other than Isaac Lahey. Peering over the back of the couch, she watched carefully until the three males came into her line of view, Isaac leading the way as the twins fell in behind him. If she hadn't been as worried about the serious expression on Isaac's face, Sydney would've been inclined to make a remark about how regal the scene in front of her looked. Yes Isaac leading the twins was definitely a sight to behold.

"You get Josh to the hospital okay?" Sydney quipped and Aidan nodded his head yes.

"Last we saw, he was being looked after by Melissa McCall." Aidan answered.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie piped up and shifted on the couch so that she was facing Isaac, following him with her body with each and every step that he made.

"I need your help, well actually Chris needs your help." Isaac announced and quickly closed in on the couch, taking a seat next to Charlie but looking at both her and Sydney. The twins wandered into the living room too and took seats on the arm chairs across the way.

"With what?" Sydney baited and Isaac took in a deep breath.

"With the Beast." He answered vaguely and Sydney furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. "The plan is to lure it into the tunnels, right now Chris and Gerard are on their way there with Parrish. He sent me to ask you if you'd be willing to provide backup."

Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and stole a look around at all three of her betas. Aidan and Ethan seemed indifferent to Isaac's request and when she looked at Charlie, she could easily see the sparkle in the girl's eye. Charlie was clearly interested in helping Isaac with this little mission and Sydney couldn't help but feel that maybe Charlie had a right to be.

This would be a good way to show Chris that she was on his side, and it would certainly prove to the man that she was worth having an alliance with. The only issue that Sydney wasn't completely sure of was whether or not she wanted to go along with Isaac personally, or if she'd rather stay in the house with Bruin and send the twins to help Chris Argent.

"We'd be happy to keep an eye on Bruin." Aidan piped up and motioned towards the sleeping baby. "I don't think we were what Isaac was looking for."

"Not exactly." Isaac replied with a shake of his head. "I still don't trust you."

Sydney clutched her baby girl a tiny bit tighter and rose up off the couch. She stepped across the living room floor and leaned over, offering up the sleeping Bruin to Ethan, who had yet to say anything. He carefully took Bruin without a word and settled into the couch, throwing his brother a subtle nod, indicating that he agreed with Aidan's offer.

"I'm in." Sydney announced and met Isaac's gaze. "Charlie? You coming too or what?"

"Oh hell yeah!"

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

"I can smell Deucalion." Sydney hissed as she let Isaac lead them into the tunnels. Charlie was right behind him and she was last in line, fully prepared to handle any threats that dared to try and hurt them from behind.

"Everyone else is already here, you're the ones who are late to the party." Isaac remarked. "I bet you can smell Theo too, can't you?"

Sydney scrunched her nose up in confusion but sucked in a deep whiff of the tunnels. Charlie shook her head with a smirk and peered over her shoulder, watching as her alpha studied the lingering scents within the dimly hallway. When Sydney's eyes flickered red, glowing brightly in the darkness, Charlie knew that she had locked on to Theo's scent, rancid as it was.

"Are the Dread Doctors down here too?" Charlie whispered and took a few steps closer to Isaac. Sydney watched as her beta reached out and grabbed hold of Isaac's hand, but even at the contact, she didn't feel any better about being in the tunnels when there were so many threats that could be lingering around the next corner.

"Didn't you hear?" Isaac countered and stopped walking. He turned around to face Sydney and even stole a quick look into Charlie's eyes. "They're gone."

"What do you mean by that?" Sydney retorted. "You let them leave Beacon Hills?"

"No, no one let them leave." Isaac narrowed his eyes in on Sydney and gave Charlie's hand a reassuring squeeze. "The Beast went nuts and killed them all, the Dread Doctors are dead."

Charlie let out a low whimper and Sydney let out a feral growl, forcing her razor sharp canines to elongate in her mouth. She felt the sharp tips poke at her tongue and she could taste the copper in her blood, but she didn't say a word, no, she merely stared at Isaac, waiting for him to explain more about the deaths of the Dread Doctors.

Who had been responsible for their deaths and how did he _know_ that they were actually dead and not just waiting around to be brought back to life like Theo's chimeras? How could Isaac be so confident in his words when no one had any real idea on how the Dread Doctors functioned?

"Just trust me on this okay, they're no longer a threat." Isaac stated and turned on his heels, facing the direction that they had all been traveling mere seconds earlier. Charlie fell in step behind him but Sydney made no move to follow, instead, she kept her feet planted on the cold, hard concrete floor and looked around, taking in the sight of her eerie surroundings.

She let her eyes fall shut and focused her ears and nose on the sounds and smells radiating through the tunnels. She could smell a lot of people, some familiar, some not so familiar, but she could definitely smell Chris, and Jordan Parrish, two people that she trusted, well, so long as Jordan was in control of himself and not all tranced out like he had been known to do.

She even caught Deucalion's scent, which was mixed with Theo's. Huh, okay, so at some point, the two of them had been together, that made sense considering Deucalion had already informed her that he wasn't actually working with Theo, no, he was the contingency plan, he was on Scott's side.

Popping her eyes open, Sydney leveled her still glowing eyes in on Isaac's back and brought her hands up, pressing them against her ears, blocking the very faint high pitched noises from getting into her ear canals.

"Emitters?" Sydney called out to Isaac, who stopped moving yet again and turned to face her. "Chris is using his emitters to lure the Beast?"

"Yeah, that's the plan anyways." Isaac replied and Sydney rolled her eyes at the sight of a very tiny smirk growing on Isaac's face. She shook her head and jogged to catch up with him and Charlie, falling in behind him and letting him continue to lead then through the hallways of the underground structure.

With each and every corner that they rounded, Sydney could hear the sounds of the emitters growing louder and louder, which meant that they were getting closer and closer to Chris Argent. Not only were the emitters luring the Beast to him but they were also allowing anyone who was effected by the high pitched noises to track Chris down, something that Sydney was relatively grateful for.

She could focus enough energy on the devices to tune them out to a point that they didn't bother her quite as much as she remembered, but they were still there, the sounds still drilling into her head. She hoped that they'd meet up with Chris soon enough so that she could distract herself with the rest of the plan and after rounding one more corner, Sydney locked her eyes on the very hunter in question, who was setting up another emitter, embedding it in the pipe high up on the wall.

"Glad to see you finally made it." Chris remarked as he turned to face them, Isaac pulling Charlie along behind him as he closed the distance between himself and Chris.

"We miss much?" Sydney jeered and Chris shook his head no. "Any sign of the beast yet?"

"Not since earlier." Chris answered. "Parrish should be around here somewhere too-"

"I can smell him." Sydney cut in and locked her eyes on Charlie. "You stick with Isaac okay, swear to me you will not leave his side for anything."

"I promise." Charlie answered hesitantly. "What are you doing?"

"Going to check on a deputy." Sydney bowed her head. "Be careful."

Charlie nodded her head in understanding and tightened her grip on Isaac. Sydney raised her head back up, shot a reassuring look in Charlie's direction and then took off in a brisk walk down the opposite way from where they had just come from. She took in a deep breath and locked her nose onto Jordan's scent, following it just a few more feet until Deputy Jordan Parrish came into view.

He was covered in ash, his skin blackened as though it had been burned, and on his body he was wearing very few clothes. Whatever had happened to him, must've been pretty serious, maybe he had lost control, maybe he had tranced out again, maybe he-

"Syd?" Jordan's voice knocked her train of thought off the tracks and Sydney swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "What are you doing down here?"

"Helping Argent." She answered. "What are you doing down here?"

"Same as you." Jordan countered.

Sydney looked him up and down, taking in the sight of him standing in front of her. She missed him, she hated the idea that she hadn't spent as much time with him as she would've liked, especially since he had been such a help in getting her current home built up. Jordan Parrish was a friend, but she hadn't exactly treated him as such lately and ever since he had attacked Charlie in the car the night the two of them had been staking out Stiles and Theo, she hadn't thought too much of it. But here she was, standing in front of Jordan, knowing that she wanted to be friends, she wanted things to go back to the way they had been before.

Flirting, witty banter, being friendly to one another, she wanted that back. She hated the idea of Jordan not being in her life and by the shocked look on his face at seeing her, he hadn't been expecting her help either.

"Hellhound." Jordan remarked.

"What?"

"I'm a hellhound, in case you didn't know." Jordan pointed out. "Do they have packs? Do I need an alpha?"

"Uh," She met his eyes and noticed the hint of orange licking at the outsides of his irises. Knowing that her eyes were still red, she knew where his question had come from, it made sense now. He had seen her eyes, her red, fiery alpha eyes, and tried to keep the conversation going so that it didn't get too awkward between them. "I don't know but if you _do_ need an alpha, we can always discuss the terms of joining my pack."

Jordan reached out to her and slipped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him and embracing her tightly. Sydney let out a soft sigh of relief and melted into his hold, basking in the warmth that his body provided her. She knew that it was hotter than a normal person, but that was all part of the hellhound side. She had witnessed him on fire once before and Sydney counted herself lucky that he wasn't bursting into a giant ball of flame at that very second.

"I'm glad you're down here." Jordan whispered and ran his hand up and down her back.

"I'm sorry I was so hard on you before." She confessed.

"Hey, I went after your beta, you could've done a lot worse to me and I would've deserved it."

"It's in the past, we've got bigger things to worry about now." Sydney stated and reluctantly peeled herself away from him. She ran her hand down his chest and he reached out, grabbing hold of her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry, I really am."

"Me too." Jordan nodded his head.

"Come on; let's head back to the others." Sydney suggested but heard the deep, rumbling vibration of the cell phone in Jordan's possession. She froze in her movements and looked up at him, waiting for him to free the device from his pocket, his eyes scanning the screen and widening at whatever it is that he saw. "What? What is it?"

Jordan didn't respond right away, instead, he lifted his head up and waited for a few beats. Sydney heard the approaching footsteps and cocked her head to the side, forcing a smile onto her face as Charlie appeared from around the corner, Isaac right behind her and Chris trailing them both, except he had his gun poised in front of him and ready to shoot.

Was he anticipating an attack, did he not realize that it was just Jordan and Sydney? Or was there something lurking nearby, something closer than Sydney was anticipating?

"Lydia's been hurt, badly." Jordan remarked, peeling his eyes away from the phone screen and meeting Chris' concerned gaze. Sydney took a few steps towards Charlie and looked her over, making sure that she wasn't any worse for wear than when she had left her moments ago.

Peering over at the hunter, Sydney just caught sight of him lowering his gun at the same time that a loud, vicious roar echoed through the tunnels. Sydney tensed in front of her beta and rolled her shoulders back, preparing to protect her pack at all costs.

"It doesn't change anything." Chris shot back, all eyes directed down the tunnel, in the direction that the noise had come from. Charlie reached out and grabbed hold of Sydney's hand, whether it was to let her know she was right there or to tell Sydney that she was afraid, Sydney wasn't sure. She merely squeezed the girl's hand back in response and forced her claws out, getting ready to fight if the time came to do just that.

"What if she's dying?" Jordan questioned.

"Lydia's not dying." Sydney mumbled and stole a look over her shoulder, catching the glowing gold eyes of Charlie, her razor sharp canines were out too as well as her claws; Charlie was just as ready to fight as Sydney.

"If we don't stop Sebastien, she will die." Chris threw in and surveyed the people around him. "He's not just coming for the pike, he's coming for anything that stands in his way. Right now, that's all of us."

"Sebastian?" Sydney barked and Isaac nodded his head at her.

"He's the man behind the beast." Isaac provided the answer for her.

"What about Mason?" Charlie whimpered. "Where's Mason?"

"We can still save him." Chris stated. "But right now, we have to survive the Beast and the best way to do that is to follow my lead."

Sydney sucked in a breath and shifted on the balls of her feet, making sure that Charlie was securely tucked behind her. She knew that Isaac was moving closer to Charlie too, which only served to let Sydney know that he was on the same page as she was. No matter what happened, they weren't going to go down without a fight, they were going to give the Beast everything that they could muster and if that wasn't enough, well, then they'd focus on making it out alive.

Chris peered down the hallway and sidestepped closer to the wall, setting the butt of his shotgun on the floor and letting the barrel rest against the wall. Sydney narrowed her eyes in on him but he wasn't paying her any attention, instead, he seemed dead set on focusing his attention on the wide open hallway in front of them.

"What are you doing?" Jordan asked, desperate for an answer.

"Yeah, that seems a little counter-productive. I mean, I personally think you should keep the gun in your hands." Sydney added.

"You two saved my life once, now, I'm going to save yours." Chris fired back at them and leveled Sydney with a look so intense, she didn't dare object.

Her mind flitted to the night that she had helped Jordan free Chris from the sewers, the very night that she had fumbled upon him stuck to the wall no thanks to Peter. With the help of the berserkers, her mate had effectively disabled anyone that would be remotely helpful to Scott, leaving the kid on his own with the hopes that Chris would die in the tunnels. Sydney could recall the night all too clearly and even now, with everything else that she had to be mad at Peter for, she could feel her anger, her frustration, at what he had done to Chris bubbling up from deep inside of her.

"God damn." Sydney growled and nudged Charlie down the tunnel, away from the direction of the Beast's devastating growls. "Go, get a head start!"

"I'm not sure I'm getting the strategy here." Jordan spoke up and Sydney whipped her head sideways, glaring at him with her glowing red eyes.

"Charlie and Isaac run." Sydney commanded in a firm, fierce tone. "I'll be right behind you."

"Syd-"

"No arguing Charlie, start moving." Sydney cut off her beta and Charlie hesitated for a split second before breaking out into a run, Isaac falling in step behind her as the two of them held on to each other's hands. Sydney kept her feet planted on the concrete floor as she looked between Chris and Jordan, waiting for their next move yet neither one seemed to be doing much of anything.

"So what _is_ the strategy?" Sydney baited, hoping that they wouldn't need too much more prompting before letting her know exactly what Chris was thinking.

"He is," Chris replied and looked right at Jordan. "You're the strategy, Parrish. You're the one in the fresco, put there as a reminder that the Beast isn't unstoppable. Whoever painted it, they didn't see a guy with a gun facing down the Beast, they saw you, they saw a Hellhound."

"I think a gun might help to slow it down though." Sydney said with a growl. "Do you have any grenades? Maybe a flash bomb?"

Chris shook his head at her and motioned for her to move. More growls and snarls sounded off the walls of the tunnels, Sydney could feel the vibrations in the floor from the Beast's giant paws stomping down. She sucked in a breath and turned sideways, giving Jordan one last reassuring look before breaking out into a run after Charlie and Isaac.

She felt the heat behind her and, glancing over her shoulder, she saw flames erupt over Jordan's body. Was he in control, or was he totally losing it? She didn't know, nor did she care, her sole focus at that minute was getting the hell away from him and the Beast and out of the way of any possible carnage. If she could just get to Charlie and find a place to hide, then maybe she'd feel even a little bit better about their journey into the tunnels.

This wasn't what she had signed up for, no, Isaac had shown up asking for their help but she hadn't imagined being smack dab in the middle of everything and leaving their fate in the hands of Deputy Jordan Parrish, who she didn't know if he had managed to gain control of his supernatural side or not. There were too many unknowns, so much that she wasn't even aware of, but she knew one thing for certain, she wasn't going to stop until she reached Charlie.

Focusing her senses in on locating her beta, Sydney could feel Charlie's presence not too much further ahead. She kicked it into the highest gear she could manage and surged forward, desperate to lay her eyes on Charlie, to make sure that she was holding up okay.

When she rounded the corner, she laid her eyes on her beta in question, who was still running hand in hand with Isaac. She was moving quickly but Sydney was faster and within a few strides, she was right behind the two of them.

Sydney opened her mouth to instruct them to find someplace to hide but before she could get any words out, gunfire reverberated off the walls, silencing them all and deafening them as well. Charlie lifted her hands up and pressed her palms against her ears but took a step towards Sydney, who immediately slipped her arm around her waist and urged her forward. Isaac broke his grip on Charlie's hand and took the lead, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

Sydney could smell burning and she could feel the heat but what had her most concerned were the gun shots still sounding out all around them. She figured Jordan was doing his best as a hellhound against the beast but what about Chris, how was he faring?

His gun went off over and over again quickly and when he came around the corner, Sydney pushed the two teenagers away from him and further into the tunnels. She paused long enough to watch him run out of shotgun blasts before producing two hand guns from under his jacket. Her eyes dried up from the heat that Jordan was producing as he too rounded the corner, except he was all tied up with the Beast.

It was huge, bigger than she was imagining and at the sight of the almost too bright blue eyes, Sydney let out a snarl and continued to back away from the scrimmage going on not too far from where she was.

Chris was hell bent on slowing the thing down but the Beast barely faltered as it continued to spar with Jordan, who was, to put it simply, on fire. Sydney was terrified of what was happening to her deputy friend but what was there for her to do?

She felt the hand on the back of her neck before she sensed it and if it hadn't pulled her out of the way, and ultimately out of the middle of the hall, she would've been a little more concerned. Settling in against the wall in the tiny alcove, Sydney turned sideways and found herself looking into the smiling face of Isaac, Charlie nicely tucked in behind him.

"Thanks." Sydney breathed the word out and pressed her back against the wall, watching as Gerard Argent appeared on the other side of the hallway and did the same thing to Chris as Isaac had just done for Sydney.

"What do we do now?" Charlie asked, yelling to be heard over the loud growls and snarls of the Beast and the hellhound.

"We…fuck I don't know." Sydney shook her head and met Chris' eyes from across the way.

"He's not slowing down." Chris announced and Sydney wondered what the hell that meant for them, what were they supposed to do if the Beast wasn't even the tiniest bit affected by Jordan and his pummeling?

"Oh, he will, they _both_ will." Gerard countered in response and Sydney fought off the urge to growl at the older Argent. She wasn't all that familiar with him but she knew enough to be wary of his presence. Gerard was an animal, even more so than the actual animals that she considered herself to be a part of.

"God damn!" Sydney hissed and lifted her hand up. A sharp shooting pain sparked in her chest and she held her breath, hoping that the feeling would pass. She had no idea when she had managed to get herself hurt but she knew, better than most, that the power of adrenaline was one hell of a thing to deal with.

Running her fingers over her chest, she searched for any signs of wound or bleeding but when her fingers came back clean, she dropped her head down and tried to get a good look at her chest.

Well that was peculiar, her clothes were all intact, there was nothing to suggest that she should be hurting, but yet, the pain was still there and it was getting worse, almost as if the pain was spreading.

"Syd?" Charlie called out to her and stepped around Isaac, taking up a stance in front of Sydney. "Syd, what's going on?"

"My chest." Sydney breathed the words out and continued to hold her breath, willing the pain to subside. "Fuck, it feels like I've been stabbed."

"There's nothing there." Isaac stated and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Where's Stiles?" Sydney ground out and clutched at her chest, the pain still tremendous. "Does anyone know?"

"I can uh, shit, damn, I have no idea." Charlie tripped over her words but ran her hand down her side, stopping it at the top of the pocket on her jeans. She dug her cell phone out and made quick work of dialing Stiles' phone number, lifting the device up to her ear and waiting for someone to answer it.

When his voice came on the line, Charlie let out a sigh of relief and handed the device to Sydney.

"Where are you?" Sydney groaned and listened to Stiles' ragged breathing through the phone.

"At Scott's."

"Are you hurt?" Sydney tipped her head back and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping against all odds that this pain was because of Stiles and that she could remedy the situation in due time. If she could just figure out where he was, and if he was even hurt at all, then she could stop it from hurting. That was her plan, it was as simple as that.

"Uh, yeah, just a little."

"Your chest?" Sydney baited and she heard a low whistle coming from Stiles on the other end of the line. "Stiles?!"

"I fell, I have glass…there's a shard embedded in my chest." Stiles confessed and Sydney shook her head, lowering it away from the wall. "Syd-"

"Hang on, I'm coming." Sydney cut him off and ended the call before he had a chance to argue. She handed the phone back to Charlie, latched her hand around her beta's bicep and turned her down the tunnel in the direction from where the Beast had come from.

Isaac peered between alpha and beta, then he looked over at Chris and waited for his instruction.

"Take my keys." Chris yelled across to them and dug out the keys to his SUV. Sydney leaned against Charlie while Isaac darted across the hall, taking the keys from Chris' hands and falling in behind the two girls.

He wasn't sure if he was glad to get out of the tunnels or more afraid to leave Chris, the only person he truly had left, behind with a rampaging Beast and a fiery hellhound on the loose. Isaac shot Chris one last look but the hunter merely nodded at him, urging him to get a move on.

"Isaac!" Charlie shrieked from in front of him. "Come on!"

"Take care of them both." Chris threw in and pushed himself away from the wall. Isaac didn't hesitate for another second before following Charlie and Sydney away from the Beast.

All he could do at this point was hope and pray that Chris made it out of the tunnels alive.


	62. Chapter 62

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 62** **:**_

"It smells like…" Charlie whispered once the SUV was parked just on the street in front of Scott's house. She looked over to her alpha, who was sitting in the backseat next to her, her hand still clutching her chest from where the pain was radiating from.

"Gun powder." Sydney provided and rolled her hips sideways, forcing her body towards the door. She peeled her hand away from her chest and grabbed the handle, pushing against the door and leaning against it, feeling it opening as she did so. "By how putrid the smell is, I can guarantee that there's going to be a lot of bullets."

"And you want to go waltzing in there?" Isaac quipped from the front seat as he made sure the vehicle was in park before freeing the keys from the ignition slot. Clutching the keys in his hand, he turned around to face the two females sitting in the backseat and raised one of his eyebrows in concern.

Sydney looked like she was in relatively bad shape but there was no sign of physical injury on her body anywhere. There were no gashes, no scrapes, not even a single drop of blood, but yet Isaac believed every word she said when she claimed that she was in pain.

"Okay well do you _hear_ gunfire?" Sydney countered and struggled to swing her legs out of the vehicle, letting her feet drop to the ground. She remained leaning in the backseat, waiting for the two betas to respond before she went any further. "Because I don't, so either everyone's already dead or the shooting is over."

"Syd-"

"And since the pain in my chest isn't going away, I'm going to guess that Stiles is in there, still breathing. You can stay here if you want but I'm going inside." Sydney let out a groan and pushed herself out of the backseat, making her way to her feet before planting a palm against the side of the SUV. When she was confident that she was stable, she reached out and slammed the door shut before making her way towards the front of the house, Charlie rushing to get out of the vehicle before running up behind her.

Isaac hung back for all of two seconds before following their lead, breaking out into a jog and catching up to them just as they reached the wide open front door of Scott McCall's humble abode.

"Hello?" Isaac called out cautiously and nudged the two female werewolves forward. Sydney stepped over the threshold and looked around the house, searching for any sign of life.

When her eyes landed on Stiles, lying on the floor in the living room, squirming and writhing in pain, she made a move to run for him, but Charlie latched her hand onto her bicep and held her back.

"What if it's a trap?" Charlie asked in a soft tone and Sydney's body went rigid. Okay, so Charlie had made a decent point, what if it _was_ a trap, what if this was all a set up to get to Stiles' friends.

If that was the case though, how would they know that Sydney would come running to him as soon as she realized he was in pain? This wasn't a trap, at least not for them, but that didn't mean it hadn't been a trap for someone else.

"It's not a trap." The familiar voice of the mercenary came from the next room over and Sydney sucked in a breath. She broke free from Charlie's grip and rushed to Stiles' side, dropping down to her knees next to him and immediately taking a gentle, yet firm, grasp of his hand.

"Braeden?" Isaac quipped and cocked his head sideways. He remained next to Charlie just inside the front door and when Charlie offered him a shrug, as if to say 'I don't know any more than you', he let out a sigh and cautiously stepped inside the house too, ushering Charlie in with him. "We're going to need to sit down and have a really long conversation when this night is over."

"Yeah, you can ask me anything and I'll try my best to clear it up." Charlie replied with a small smile. "I guess right now, we focus on Stiles."

"Great, those are just the words I wanted to hear." Isaac remarked with a roll of his eyes. When he glanced in the direction of the teenager in question, he flinched at the sight of Sydney glaring at him, her eyes wide and glowing a vibrant red. Okay, well that was something he hadn't been expecting, but then again, maybe Sydney wasn't accustomed to his sarcasm, maybe she didn't understand the weird back and forth bantering that he and Stiles were known for. "Okay, sheesh."

"I need towels." Sydney demanded and without another word of objection, Isaac broke his contact with Charlie and made a mad dash up the stairs. "Braeden, where are you?"

"I'm in the next room with Malia! We've both been shot!" Braeden hollered back to her and Sydney softened her gaze before looking towards Charlie.

Charlie lifted her hands up in surrender and gave Sydney a nod of understanding. She knew what she needed to do, she needed to help Malia and Braeden while Sydney took care of Stiles. Charlie pushed herself away from the front door and ran up the stairs after Isaac, making sure to grab enough towels for all three of the injured bodies on the main floor.

"Who shot you?" Sydney yelled out and ran her one hand through Stiles' hair while her other hand pressed gently on his chest, right next to where the giant shard of glass was protruding from. "Stiles, hang on okay."

"It was the Desert Wolf." Stiles breathed the words out.

"My mother!" Malia cried and Sydney listened carefully as multiple sets of footsteps began sounding out in the house.

She could hear Charlie and Isaac stomping around upstairs but what really got her blood pumping were the footfalls coming from the next room. If the Desert Wolf had been the one to shoot Malia and Braeden, did that mean she was still here somewhere, was she still a threat and if Sydney remained where she was, would she become a sitting duck, simply waiting to be shot herself?

"Syd." Stiles croaked, drawing her attention back to him. Sydney met his eyes and forced a smile onto her face, hoping that it looked more reassuring than she thought. "She's down."

"Who?" Sydney leaned in closer to Stiles and sucked in a breath, forcing herself to draw out his pain through the hand on his chest. She could feel the pain settling in her own chest, in the same place that she was already feeling the burn, but it didn't matter, she was going to help Stiles as best as she could and after a few seconds, she felt the ache in her chest subsiding the tiniest little bit. "Who's down?"

"The Desert Wolf, she's…she's not going to hurt you." Stiles explained and Sydney nodded her head in understanding. She kept drawing out Stiles pain, waiting for Charlie and Isaac to show their faces in the living room.

When she heard the stomping on the stairs, Sydney let out a soft sigh of relief and took the towels that Charlie offered to her, immediately wrapping them around the base of the shard, right at the point of contact. Charlie dropped to her knees and made a move to help Sydney but she was waved off and when Malia came around the corner with Braeden leaning against her, she knew she was needed elsewhere. Meeting up with Isaac at the base of the stairs, Charlie made her way over to the two females who were both bleeding from gunshot wounds.

Sydney wrapped her one hand around the top of the shard and felt the sharp, jagged edges digging into her skin, ripping through the first layer and drawing blood. She was undeterred though, this was Stiles she was trying to help, and with that in the forefront of her mind, she gripped the shard harder and pressed against his chest, focusing all of her energy on drawing out his pain instead of on the tearing sensation of her own palm.

"Hang on Stiles, okay?" Sydney baited and pulled on the glass shard as steadily as she could. She didn't want to just rip it out in case it had gone deeper than she first believed but as it slid out, moving further and further away from his body, she blew out a sigh of relief.

As soon as the sharp pointed tip of the glass was out of his chest, Sydney pressed the towel directly over the wound and pressed down on it, applying as much pressure as she could without actually hurting him more. Stiles lifted both of his hands up and held the towel over his chest, one of his hands covering the back of hers and Sydney moved her eyes from the blood soaked towel to his eyes.

"I'm good Syd." He said soothingly and she bit down on her bottom lip, nodding at him in response for fear that her voice would crack if she tried to say something. "I'm good."

"You Stilinskis have some sort of death wish don't you?" Charlie piped up from across the way. Sydney didn't dare tear her eyes off of Stiles but she took note that he was looking around the room, a small, pained smile taking up residence on his face. "How you have survived this long is beyond me."

"We got people watching our backs." Stiles made an attempt to chuckle but at the pain worsening in his chest, he choked it off and relaxed against the floor. Sydney ran her hand through his hair once again and shook her head, a smile of her own present on her face.

"As one of the people watching your backs, do you think maybe you can tone it down a little bit next time?" Sydney jeered and Stiles gripped her hand a little tighter.

"There's going to be a next time?" Charlie whined and Sydney snorted in response. "God, this town is a danger to my health."

"Welcome to Beacon Hills." Isaac mumbled.

Sydney shifted from her knees to her butt and when she brought her legs forward and crossed them in front of her, she let her eyes fall shut, a sigh escaping her as she did so. She let Stiles hold on to her hand and she continued to draw out his pain as she let the relief flood through her. He was alive, he was relatively unharmed and it looked like he was going to survive. Even the pain in her chest was starting to lessen and as she focused on it, she realized she could barely feel it anymore at all.

Her bond with Stiles was something she didn't understand but would always treasure and if hurting when he hurt was something that she was going to have to deal with for the rest of her life, then she'd deal with it with a smile on her face. Stiles was the closest thing to family outside of her pack and she wasn't going to let him get hurt, not if she could help it.

"I'm thinking maybe we should head on over to the hospital." Charlie spoke up, breaking the blanket of silence that had fallen over them. "I mean, we have two humans who could probably use medical attention."

Sydney nodded her understanding and reluctantly freed her hands from Stiles' grasp before rising up to her feet. She extended her arm downwards and when Stiles latched on to her wrist, she helped him to his feet, steadying him as he struggled to remain upright. She slipped an arm around his waist and looked over to Charlie and Isaac who were supporting Braeden and Malia, although Malia seemed to be healing quite well on her own.

"What about The Desert Wolf?" Charlie questioned and locked her eyes on her alpha.

"I guess she gets to live another day." Sydney replied. "That doesn't mean I won't kill her later though."

"Okay." Charlie offered up with a shrug. "Come on, let's get to the hospital."

Sydney paused and dug out her phone from the pocket on her jeans. She knew that she would have to get in contact with Chris at some point but she was hoping more for news on whatever had happened in the tunnels. The Beast had been down there, fighting with Jordan the last she had seen of it, and now, she wanted to know what had become of both the Beast and the deputy.

There was one text message waiting to be opened and without putting it off for another second, Sydney opened it but furrowed her eyebrows at the sender. This wasn't Chris, it wasn't even Jordan, no, this text message was from Derek.

' _Leaving for Beacon Hills now, be there as soon as I can.'_

Sydney kept her eyes locked on the screen and felt a smile pulling at the corner of her lips. Stiles was alive, Charlie was okay and Derek was on his way.

For a night that had started off so dangerous, Sydney was certainly glad of how it was ending.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Deucalion was sitting on the front steps. He was sitting on her porch, his eyes locking onto her as soon as she set foot on the driveway, and Sydney couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on and why he was at her house, again.

Had something bad happened in the tunnels after she had left with Isaac and Charlie, had someone died, or gotten hurt? Was there something bigger to deal with now? Yes, there were far too many questions swimming around in Sydney's head pertaining to why the hell the Demon Wolf would be sitting on her front steps, yet for some reason, she couldn't voice anything.

She remained muted as she wandered up towards him, Charlie and Isaac staying behind her in case he decided this was the prime opportunity to turn on them, but Sydney was already tuned into the steady, calm rhythm of his beating heart. If he was going to attack, he wasn't showing any obvious signs, but then again, this was a man who was a whole lot more experienced in being a werewolf. Was it so farfetched of an idea that he could keep his heartrate low even if he was ready to pounce?

"The hell is this guy doing here?" Isaac's voice broke the awkward silence that had apparently fallen over them all. Sydney dared to glance over her shoulder, shooting the younger male a glare, even going as far as to bring out her alpha eyes to drive her point home; Isaac was not to be talking to Deucalion, not until she found out what he was doing at her home.

"I merely came to offer any aid that you might need." Deucalion answered and Sydney leveled him with a stern look. Of course they had agreed to be in an alliance together, but that had been against Theo, and the Dread Doctors. As far as she knew, the Dread Doctors were gone and Theo, well, she hadn't heard any news on his whereabouts but she figured that if he _had_ managed to get out of the tunnels alive, she would've been notified.

"We're good." Sydney grumbled in response.

"Really?" Deucalion asked with a tilt of his head. "Is that why your dear double betas inside breached the subject of mate bonds with me?"

Sydney's jaw dropped at his admission and she went rigid, stopping in her tracks a few feet from where Deucalion was sitting. She watched as the older man confidently rose up to his feet, towering over her as he stood on the middle step, looking down at her with a smug smirk plastered on his face.

"What do you know about mate bonds?" Charlie piped up, her voice sounding more curious than anything. She reached out and tried to grab hold of her alpha's hand, Sydney immediately letting her grasp settle around her wrist instead.

"I know enough." Deucalion answered cryptically and Sydney felt herself snapping out of her state of shock. This guy knew something about mate bonds, but did that mean he'd be willing to help her? And even if he _was_ willing to help her, what sort of help would he even be offering?

She wasn't sure how she felt about being mated to Peter, but that didn't mean she wasn't totally opposed to the idea of at least talking about breaking that bond. If Peter was lost, if he wasn't willing to be found, then wasn't it worth it to at least inquire into what it would take to break the mate bond, if it was possible at all?

She owed it to Bruin, she owed it to herself, to at least hear Deucalion out, didn't she?

"I can help you." Deucalion offered. "And perhaps you can help me."

"Help you?" Sydney cocked her head sideways in confusion. "How the hell would I be able to help you?"

"You know things, and people, that could be beneficial to me as well."

"Like what?" Sydney shot back.

Charlie cleared her throat from behind her alpha and Sydney waved her forward, watching cautiously as she and Isaac bounded up the steps and disappeared into the house. Charlie poked her head back outside though and raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner, silently asking Sydney if she was okay on her own. When Sydney bowed her head, Charlie's face disappeared from her line of sight, yet the front door remained open.

"You're a Vance, I knew your mother."

"Yeah, we've already accomplished that." Sydney retorted, sarcasm lacing her tone.

"You also know Satomi, am I mistaken on that?" Deucalion took a step forward and descended the stairs, pausing at the base of the steps and waving her forward. Sydney shook her head and remained exactly where she was standing, crossing her arms over her chest in an even further act of defiance. "I'm not the bad guy here."

"You can say that, and maybe I believe you, but I'm not just going to hand you over to Satomi. She has a pack of her own, a pack with teenagers and children, how do I know you won't slaughter them-"

"I'm not interested in slaughtering anyone, especially not that dear little _Sam_ that you're thinking of." Deucalion cut her off and Sydney blew out a breath. "I'm merely asking for a chance. Do I not deserve a shot at redemption?"

Slowly Sydney lowered her arms away from her chest and tucked her hands into her pockets instead as her mind drifted to Samantha. She had yet to stop thinking about the little girl and with each day that passed, Sydney wondered how willing the girl would be to join her pack, but also how seamlessly she could integrate Sam with the rest of her betas if, by some miracle, Satomi even let Sydney take her in.

The idea of bringing a young child into the Vance pack sounded like a good idea sometimes but then other times Sydney realized how truly dangerous being a werewolf in Beacon Hills was. Would Sam be better off staying with Satomi where she could be looked after by a larger pack? Or would Sam benefit from being in Sydney's pack, with another little girl who would be protected until the day she died?

Focusing back on the present moment, Sydney shrugged her shoulders at Deucalion and watched as he stepped even closer to her, leaving very little space between their bodies as he stopped moving. Lifting his hand up, he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and plastered a genuine smile on his face.

"What exactly are you asking for?" Sydney breathed the words out and moved her head slightly, dodging his attempts to touch her hair yet again. "If you want a place to stay, you can stay on the property but I'm not sure I want you inside the house."

"Of course not, you have a darling little daughter to look out for." Deucalion nodded his head, agreeing with her hesitance. "Honestly Sydney, I'm only here to offer my assistance. You're a strong alpha, you're a relatively decent ally to have except you're currently suffering from being without your mate. I can't have someone who isn't completely focused on my side, they'd be a danger to me and I don't like being in danger."

"Well I'm not willing to break the bond I have with Peter." Sydney protested.

"Not yet." Deucalion tossed out casually. "If the time ever does come, perhaps I can help you."

"Maybe." She stated nonchalantly, not wanting to give too much away. "If you want, you can stay in the backyard."

"Fair enough." Deucalion smiled. "I may just take you up on that, for a few days at the very least."

"Yeah, good." She pressed her lips together. "Just so you know, the entire thing is surrounded by mountain ash, nothing can get in."

"Or out."

Sydney shook her head in amusement, almost glad that she had someone like Deucalion on her side. She still wasn't sure she trusted him one hundred percent but it wasn't like he had done anything to her to cause her not to have a little faith in him. He had come to her, he had confessed that he was working with Scott and if the man was willing to work alongside True Alpha Scott McCall, then didn't that say something about his character? Deucalion wasn't the bad guy here, he was simply a wise, old alpha who had lots of knowledge to share and if that meant Sydney had to let him stay in the backyard, then wasn't it worth it?

"Except chimeras." Sydney pointed out.

"Well, I'm fairly certain that we won't have to be worrying about any of them anymore."

"Why not? What about Theo?" Sydney narrowed her eyes in on him.

"Last I saw of him, he was being eaten up by the floor." Deucalion answered and Sydney scrunched up her nose in confusion. "Long story dear girl, perhaps I'd be inclined to share it with you over a lovely hot meal. If you can cook half as well as your mother, then I know I'm in for a treat."

Sydney fought off the urge to smile at the mentioning of her mother. Deucalion had known the woman all that time ago and maybe he could shed some light onto the type of person Brynn Vance had once been. Maybe Deucalion knew things about her that no one else did, like how she had become an alpha, or what had happened to her for her to lose her alpha spark.

"I've got some steam to blow off before I make any sort of food. You're welcome to watch us spar, maybe even show me a thing or two." Sydney baited.

"I'd be honoured Miss Vance."

"Yeah, yeah okay. Come on, I have to call Chris and let him know Isaac's here, then we'll head out to the backyard. I've got a mean right hook that I think you might be impressed to see."

Deucalion nodded his understanding and turned to face the house. He waited for Sydney to wave him on and when she did, he led them both up the stairs and into the wide open front door. She pointed him in the direction of the backyard and met Aidan's gaze before he fell in stride behind his former blind alpha. When the two males were securely outside, Ethan wandered over to Sydney and handed Bruin off, Sydney immediately hugging her baby girl tight against her chest, thankful that she had come out of the events of that night alive and unscathed.

Stiles and Braeden had been left at the hospital to be looked at but Melissa McCall had already informed Sydney that it looked like they'd both make quick recoveries. From there, the trio of Sydney, Charlie and Isaac had left and headed home, no one really saying a word until they had approached the front steps, where Deucalion had been sitting waiting for them.

"Parrish dropped by not too long before you got home, he said to let you know that the Beast has been taken care of and you can call him sometime if you want to talk." Ethan announced and Sydney sucked in a breath. "How'd your night go anyways?"

"Fine, I guess." Sydney murmured. "But I could really use a chance to blow off some steam, I've got a hankering to kick some beta butt."

"Hankering?" Ethan teased with a smirk. "All right, I'll go upstairs and grab Charlie and Isaac, we'll meet you in the backyard in a few."

"Perfect." Sydney said. "Perfect indeed, but Ethan?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't talk about my love life with Deucalion ever again, got it?" She leveled him with a glare but found herself smiling as she tried to remain serious. He scoffed in response, shook his head and took off for the stairs.

Maybe part of her was thankful that the twins had brought up the subject with Deucalion, maybe she was glad that the Demon Wolf was potentially willing to help her, but for right now, she was going to focus on her family and making sure that Bruin was well taken care of.

After all, that's what mothers were for.


	63. Chapter 63

_**The Wolf Amoung Us**_

 _Summary:_ _After having lost Peter to his obsession with power, Sydney was sure of one thing and one thing only: she needed to pull her life back together. With unexpected news that will change everything, will she become the strong alpha that she desires so much or will she struggle to keep it together until it's too late?_ _Season 5: Peter Hale/OC_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

 _ **Chapter 63** **:**_

Sydney knew the layout of the sheriff's station well enough that she had wandered right through the hallway and towards the sheriff's office. She had so many things she wanted to get off her chest, so many things she had to say to not just the sheriff but a lot of other people too, but for the time being, she was going to start at square one: Sheriff Stilinski.

Pausing outside of his office door, she took a deep inhale and caught a whiff of Stiles' scent, huh well, that was almost a nice thought. Seeing Stiles again would be a good thing, she adored him to pieces and she was really glad that he had survived the entire Dread Doctors ordeal.

The sheriff shot her a smile and waved her in while he picked up a file from the surface of his desk. She casually strode in and stepped around Stiles before coming to a stop in front of the chair next to him.

"No more glass shard in your chest." She teased and Stiles rolled his eyes at her. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too, especially considering you saved their lives: Mason, Malia and half the population of Beacon Hills. That's got to feel pretty good." The Sheriff stated in Stiles' direction, his eyes scanning over the file folder in his hand. Sydney hesitantly lowered herself down into the vacant seat next to Stiles and reached across, over the armrest, setting her hand on his forearm and giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

"You saved a lot of lives." Sydney murmured and her mind drifted back to the night that he had fought tooth and nail in order to save his own father's life. Yes, Stiles was certainly a hero in her eyes, no matter what anyone else thought and no matter what anyone else said.

"It did, for a while." Stiles replied and blew out a soft sigh.

"But it's something you want to feel again?" His dad prodded him, knowing full well what the answer was going to be.

It wasn't hard for anyone within the sheriff's office to see how much Stiles craved the positive feelings and Sydney didn't blame him one bit. Saving lives versus taking them was something that she knew a bit about and when it all came down to it, depending on the person in question, she knew that saving lives almost always trumped taking one.

There were a few exceptions though, and Theo Raeken was one of these exceptions. Sydney had heard what had happened to him, that he had been swallowed up by the concrete floor of the tunnels and hadn't been seen since, but part of her wondered what exactly had happened to him and was he gone forever? Would he come back to haunt them at a later date? Would he show up again in Beacon Hills and cause havoc everywhere that he went? Would she have to end his life like she had threatened to do so many times before?

"Yeah, yeah, I think so." Stiles bowed his head.

"Welcome to your future career in law enforcement." The sheriff countered with a small, knowing smile. Sydney couldn't help but smile along with them too and when she pulled her hand away from Stiles' arm, he turned towards her and held her gaze. She forced her alpha red irises out and let him study them for a few seconds before she turned to look at the sheriff, noticing that he too was looking right at her.

"What?" Sydney gaped and let her eyes fall shut, feeling the alpha red retreating. When she opened her eyes back up, she knew that the irises were their usual brown colour, yet the Stilinskis were still staring at her. "Do I have something on my face? Why are you two looking at me?"

Stiles lifted his hands up into the air in an act of surrender while the sheriff maintained his stance behind his desk, his eyes never leaving her form, even when she shied away from both of their gazes and found herself looking at the floor.

"You helped save lives too you know." The sheriff pointed out and Sydney let a scoff sound out in the room. She waited for him to continue speaking, to tell her that he was kidding or that in her own roundabout way she had helped them all because of something simple, but when no one spoke for a minute or so, she slowly raised her head upwards and locked her eyes with the sheriff's. "You're a good person."

"I don't know how accurate that is." Sydney shook her head in disagreement.

"Oh I think it's _very_ accurate." The sheriff nodded his head and Sydney stopped her movements, taking his words into consideration.

Did she consider herself a good person? Well not entirely, there were things that she wasn't proud of, things that she knew she could've done better, but did that make her a bad person? She tried her hardest to do whatever she could to help out Stiles and his dad and whether or not she ended up actually helping or not, did that really matter? Wasn't it the fact that she tried that counted?

"You believed me." Stiles piped up. "When it came to Theo, you believed me and you didn't judge me when that…when Donovan happened."

"I'd never judge you." Sydney shrugged. "I've done way worse things than…what you did was self-defense, no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. You did what you had to do-"

"Syd, so did you." Stiles broke in, effectively cutting her off. "When my dad was missing, you dropped everything and helped me find him, then when he wasn't getting better, you made sure that I had someone I could trust on my side."

"You mean Charlie?" Sydney quipped, cocking her head to the side. "You trust Charlie?"

"I do." Stiles nodded. "She's part of your pack and I trust you."

Sydney turned her head slightly and studied the teenager sitting beside her. Stiles Stilinski was claiming he trusted her, and Charlie, and all she could do in response was look at him as though he had grown an extra head. Having Stiles trust her meant the world to her and hearing him say the words merely made her heart swell with pride. If Stiles trusted her, then that meant she was doing something right, didn't it?

"Stiles here told me that you were prepared to uh, to bite me if things didn't start looking up back in the hospital." The sheriff stated and Sydney jerked her head back around to face him. "I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that I could've been a werewolf but I do know that I like that option a lot more than being dead."

"Yeah, I figured that much." She forced a smile at him. "Being dead would kind of suck."

"It _would_ suck, okay, a _lot_." Stiles remarked. "Which is why what you almost had to do would've been so worth it. Losing both of my parents…it's not, it's not an option."

Sydney gave him a firm nod of agreement and thought of her own parents. Both of them had been stolen from her, killed while she had been home, ripped right out from under her without having a fighting chance. What she wouldn't give to have them back, or to have another chance at that night, to try and stop the slaughter that had broken her family in ways that she never would've even thought about as a child.

The thought of having to relive that night was horrifying yet if she had a chance to do things differently, she would've given everything to try and stop the hunters. She never wanted another person to have to experience the pain that she was still experiencing, and if there was something she could do, then she would do it. She had already helped Steve out with his child by offering Charlie a place in her pack and she had already helped Stiles by reassuring him that she wasn't going to just let him suffer, no, if the sheriff had come any closer to death, then she would've sunk her teeth into him and prayed that he turned.

"I'm not going anywhere, not any time soon." The sheriff spoke, pulling Sydney out of her own head. "And that's a statement directed at both of you."

"Good." Sydney scoffed. "I'm going to need you to be around for quite a few more years."

"We should make you an honourary Stilinski." The sheriff grinned and Stiles straightened up in his chair. "Sydney Stilinski has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Vance." She shook her head but her smile grew the tiniest little bit. "Sydney Vance sounds so much more badass."

"Okay, okay, you're probably right." The sheriff waved her off and leaned forward, pressing his palms against the edge of his desk. "Moving on, it's getting pretty late Stiles, shouldn't you be getting to school?"

"God, you save half the town and still have to go to school, that's super lame." Sydney teased and nudged Stiles with his elbow. "I let Charlie stay home."

"Did you really?" Stiles' eyes widened at her but Sydney immediately snorted at him, shaking her head no.

"Of course not, her dad would kill me. She's probably already there, although, to be fair, she no longer has a tail, not until something else happens in Beacon Hills, so she's looking at today as a step forward." Sydney explained. "I think she likes the normalcy to be honest."

"But things will never _be_ normal." Stiles countered.

"No but it's nice to pretend, even if it's just for a little while." Sydney chuckled and fell silent, watching contently as Stiles reluctantly rose up to his feet.

He waved his hand at Sydney and then turned towards the door leading out into the station, heading in that direction but pausing in the doorframe. He gripped the edge with his hand and shot a look at both Sydney and his father, then he drummed his fingers against the wooden trim and took off, disappearing from their line of sight.

Sydney sucked in a breath and straightened up in her chair before tipping her head backwards and looking up at the sheriff. He smiled at her and Sydney relaxed the tiniest little bit, but it didn't make what she wanted to say to him any easier. She had questions for him, questions that only he could answer for her, and she knew that it was going to be hard on them both.

"You doing okay?" The sheriff asked and she shook her head no. "Want to talk?"

"Can I ask you…I want to know about your wife." Sydney said, her voice soft and low. "Do you still think about her?"

"All the time." The sheriff whispered. "Every day."

"Does it still hurt?" Sydney pressed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Does the pain ever go away?"

"I don't think it'll ever go away." He replied. "Is this about Peter?"

She tipped her head to the side and took in a big breath, holding it for a few seconds before letting it out. She thought about how she wanted to answer his question; she could be blunt and say yes, or she could avoid the real issue at hand and try to steer the conversation back in the direction that she would've preferred. Was it worth dancing around the point thought?

"I think so." Sydney nodded her head. "I think I'm really angry at him for leaving me."

"And I think you have every right to be angry."

"I guess I was hoping that it'd get easier to live without him."

"Maybe. He chose his path though, my wife, well that's a different story. In my heart, I'd like to believe that if she had a choice, she'd still be here with us today, I can't say that Peter would."

"I made a shitty choice too, I could've had anyone else and I picked him." Sydney pointed out. "I think my parents would've wanted more for me than Peter Hale."

"You can't help who you fall in love with though." The sheriff pointed out and Sydney let out a frustrated growl. She knew that, she was very well aware of that, but it didn't make things seem any better. She had picked Peter when there were so many other options out there for her. For whatever reason, she had wanted to be with him, she had loved him, she still loved him. "It's cliché, I know, but it's true. Maybe one day he'll find his way back to you, maybe one day you'll be able to let him go and move on-"

"We're bonded." Sydney cut him off and the sheriff motioned at her with his hand for her to continue. "Even _if_ I did find someone else to be with, him and I are forever bonded and I don't know how to break that bond, hell, I don't even know if breaking that bond is possible."

The sheriff let a silence fall over them and he wandered around the end of his desk, taking a few steps towards her and lowering himself down into the chair that Stiles had most recently been using. He leaned over the arm rest and slipped an arm around her shoulders, feeling her relaxing against him as she let out a soft, frustrated sigh.

"You have Bruin to worry about." He stated. "Focus on her and I promise you, things won't seem all that bad."

"But I feel like it's just me and her sometimes."

"It's not, I can say, with a lot of confidence, that it will _never_ be just you and her. You have me and Stiles, hell, you have an entire pack looking out for you. You're not alone, you're never going to be alone."

Sydney pressed her lips together and uncrossed her arms, resting her palms against the tops of her thighs instead. Running her fingers over the rough denim of her jeans, she took the sheriff's words to heart and let them really sink in.

Missing Peter, well that was something that she'd have to struggle with every day, but he did have a point, she wasn't alone, she had so many people backing her up. She had Charlie and Steve, she had the twins, and like the sheriff had said, she had him and Stiles. That sounded like quite the support system, quite a family for her and even if she didn't have Peter, she knew that she'd be okay.

One day she'd have Peter back, she'd make sure of that, but for now, she'd settle for the amazing group of friends that she already had.

"Thank you." She bowed her head and settled in against him, relaxing even more in his hold. "Thank you, for everything."

There were no more words shared between them, nothing more needed to be said, the two of them simply sat in silence, thanking the higher powers for what they already had and not what they thought they wanted.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

"There is nothing more relaxing than a game of chess." Sydney teased as she sat across from Charlie, the chess board set up in between them on a blanket spread out over the grass in the backyard.

Bruin was curled up in her own blanket and tucked into her carrier residing next to Sydney, sleeping soundly as though she hadn't a care in the world. Hell Sydney considered her lucky, she was just a baby, a little werewolf who would be looked after for years to come by her mother and the pack that adored her to pieces. Bruin didn't have a care in the world, she had no idea what awaited her when she grew up, she had no real inkling as to the dangers constantly lurking so close to her and if Sydney had any semblance of control, she planned on keeping it that way.

Babies needed their mothers, and fathers, to protect them from the world, at least until they were old enough to face it on their own, and Sydney knew that's exactly what she was going to do. With or without Peter present, it didn't matter, all that she would focus on was Bruin.

"Chess isn't relaxing. It's a game littered with anxiety. I have to guess what your next move it going to be and counter it before you even make it, that's insane." Charlie remarked and swept her eyes over the board. "If you think chess is relaxing, then you've got problems."

"Charlie darling, it's just a board game." Sydney let out a laugh. "It's not as bad as you make it sound."

"So maybe I'm not exactly good at board games, one time my dad and I played Monopoly and we didn't speak for a week afterwards." Charlie stated and Sydney narrowed her eyes in on her beta, shooting her a questioning look. "Okay, Monopoly is a little more intense than chess."

"Monopoly is the game that ends marriages and ruins friendships, chess is neither of those. But hey, if you don't want to play, we don't have to-"

"Do _you_ want to play?" Charlie retorted and leaned forward, pressing her palms against the blanket on either side of the chess board. She jarred the rook residing on the left and sent it tumbling to the soft material, Sydney rolling her eyes and reaching across to set it back up. Charlie slapped her hand out of the way and set the piece back herself, leveling her alpha with a curious gaze. "I still don't get why we're out here playing a board game and not training or something."

Sydney ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. She peered up at the bright, warm afternoon sun and then looked back down at her beta.

The last time she had sparred with her pack, well, it hadn't ended well for anyone involved and she wasn't entirely ready to try again. She was angry, emotional, and not fully in control of herself when it came to training but chess, yes chess sounded like the perfect place to start in order for Sydney to attempt to reign in her rage.

"My dad taught me how to play chess when I was little." Sydney stated, ignoring Charlie's question. "When he died, I played with my grandpa and then when I came to Beacon Hills, Peter and I played a few times. Chess relaxes me, it makes me think of the good times that I shared with my family, it reminds me that my past isn't all bad."

"You know what relaxes me?" Charlie tilted her head sideways and let a grin spread over her face. Sydney raised her hand up and waved at her, motioning for her to go on. "Massages."

"Hey, if you can talk the twins into- oh, oh I see where you were really going with this." Sydney found herself grinning as her mind drifted to the other male that was rather close to Charlie, another male that was practically pack. "You want to know if Isaac has magic hands, am I right?"

"What?" Charlie gaped at her and shook her head desperately. "No, I meant…god you're…my dad would kill me."

"And so would I." Sydney threw in with a dignified smile. "Come on okay, just humour me and play a game of chess. I swear when it's all over and I've beat you so bad you'll be crying-"

"No, you're not going to beat me." Charlie cut in. "I think you're sorely underestimating me and we haven't even started playing yet."

"Yeah well you haven't played with the likes of Mason Vance, or my grandpa." Sydney pointed out with a challenging look on her face. "And Peter was pretty smart too, when it came to everything other than relationships of course."

Charlie studied her alpha for a few seconds and found herself wondering how much pain Sydney was truly in because of her relationship with Peter. He had turned against her, he had chosen power over her and she still couldn't figure out why anyone in their right mind would push Sydney to the side like he had.

She was a great person, a wonderful friend and an incredibly competent alpha, so why _had_ Peter given her up in a lame attempt to gain some sort of upper hand?

Had he really wanted to be powerful, even if it meant it cost him the woman who loved him with everything she had? Had he really thought it was worth it, even to this very day?

"No offense but I think Peter's a bit of an idiot." Charlie announced and let her attention fall on the baby sleeping soundly within arm's reach.

"At this point in time, I'm inclined to agree." Sydney sighed. "Maybe one day he'll come back to me."

"Or maybe you should consider going after him." Charlie posed and raised her arms into the air, stretching out her back before relaxing her body. She carefully flopped onto her side and lay on the blanket, her eyes level with the chess pieces. "I know how much it really bothers you that he's not here, so tell me Syd, how many more days can you pretend to be happy when you're really just miserable inside?"

"I'm not miserable." Sydney argued but it wasn't hard to see that there was very little conviction behind her words.

"Okay, well you're certainly not all that happy."

"I am though, I mean, I think I am. I have Bruin, and you, and the twins-"

"I get that, and I understand what you're trying to say, but none of us can make you happy the same way that Peter can." Charlie replied softly and turned her head sideways so that she could look up at Sydney. Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and considered what her beta was really trying to say to her.

Sure she didn't have Peter with her at that very moment but was she really miserable? Was she really as unhappy as Charlie made it seem?

Bruin certainly helped but a lot of times Sydney simply found herself wondering how much nicer it'd be for Bruin _and_ her if Peter was with them. He was the man she loved, the father of her child, and currently he was missing in action. Maybe Charlie had a point, maybe if she wanted Peter back so badly, then she'd have to do something about it, instead of just waiting around with the hope that he'd reappear in her life on his own accord.

"I'm not saying that you have to get up and go look for him right this second, I'm just saying that sitting around and waiting for him hasn't really been all that productive. What if he needs help? What if he's stuck somewhere and he _can't_ get to you?" Charlie baited and Sydney moved her palms out, resting them against her thighs. "From what you've told me about him, I doubt that's the case but maybe getting out there and investigating might help you feel better."

"You have a point." Sydney bowed her head and let her eyes fall shut. She focused on the beating of her very own heartbeat and picked up on Bruin's heart as well. She deserved a chance to know her father and waiting around certainly wasn't doing anyone any good, plus it seemed like things in Beacon Hills had settled down for the time being. Maybe it was the perfect opportunity for Sydney to set out and look for the man that had caused her so much pain.

"Damn right I do." Charlie snorted in amusement.

"I need to stop waiting for Peter to come to me, if I want him back, I'm going to have to find him, and fight for him." Sydney said firmly and opened her eyes, looking directly at Charlie.

She knew by the sensation of her irises that they were glowing red and when Charlie countered by forcing her golden yellow eyes out, she felt her body relax. This was her beta, this was her family, but Peter was the love of her life. She was going to have to put on her big girl pants and make the first step. If she could gain some insight as to where he was, or what he had been up to while she had been holding up in Colorado, then maybe she could find him and bring him back to her.

Charlie lazily reached a hand out and squeezed the top of one of her knights in between her index finger and thumb. She moved it forward and set it on the appropriate square, nowhere close to any of Sydney's pieces, let alone the king.

"Checkmate." Charlie grinned and casually reached across the board, tipping Sydney's king over with her middle finger. "My knight has mind control powers."

"Funny." Sydney scoffed and picked her king up, placing it back on the board.

At the sound of the back door to the house opening, both females turned their attention towards their home and watched as a familiar face to Sydney stepped outside. Her eyes lit up at the sight of none other than Derek Hale and before Charlie had a chance to say a single word, Sydney had jumped up to her feet and was running towards him.

"This guy." Charlie huffed and casually made her way to her feet too but she paused and nabbed the baby out of the carrier, cradling Bruin in her arms as she slowly followed after Sydney.

Her alpha had her face buried in Derek's shoulder, her arms around his waist while he held on to her right back. Charlie cleared her throat as she approached and noticed Sydney's body jerking from the sound before she reluctantly peeled herself away from Derek.

"I'm so glad you're here." Sydney murmured and took Bruin out of Charlie's hold. She gently readjusted the baby in her arms and took a step closer to Derek, his eyes immediately falling to the tiny little tot. "This is Bruin."

Derek's eyes widened in wonder and he studied the little girl in Sydney's hold. The baby's eyes were shut and she was sleeping peacefully, but that didn't stop Sydney from offering her over to Derek.

"You want me to hold her?" Derek quipped. "I'm not so sure-"

Before he had a chance to finish his objection, Sydney moved Bruin closer to him and Derek took her into his arms. He was stiff and awkward with her but after a few seconds of realizing he wasn't going to break the baby, he visibly relaxed. Sydney stepped around to his side and leaned against his shoulder while Charlie waved a hand at them both and headed back to the blanket, leaving them alone to share a moment.

"She's…amazing." Derek whispered and Sydney rested her head against his arm. "She's so small."

"I know." Sydney blew out a soft sigh. "I'm glad you're here, really."

"I think I'm glad I'm here too." Derek replied and kept his eyes locked on the baby in his grasp. Sydney reached out and ghosted her fingers over Bruin's head but the baby didn't even flinch. "Syd, she's perfect."

"She's a Hale, of course she's perfect." Sydney smiled and let everything sink in. Derek was here, he was really here, and now she had the start of a plan to try and get Peter back.

This was only the beginning.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

His body was tired, his mind was drained, but there was still only one thing that he could think of, one thing that mattered to him more than anything. It had taken him too long to realize it and he just hoped that it wasn't too late.

He just had to get there, he had to get to her in time, before she had a chance to move on with someone else. There was too much in his way though, too much for him to handle and with the fleeting thought of never seeing her again, he felt his muscles relaxing. It was hopeless, the entire thing was hopeless.

The nightmares hadn't stopped, the haunting images of her being ripped right from his hands plagued his dreams leaving him unwilling to try and rest. But he had long ago lost his battle with staying awake, at least if he fell victim to slumber then he'd get a chance to see her face again, to see the face of the one woman who hadn't given up on him, even when he had brushed her aside.

Something felt different lately, a little off kilter from the first few weeks without her by his side, but he had no idea what had changed and no idea how to fix it. This was his doing, this was his fault, but he didn't know where to start, or how to make things right. He would crave power, he would always desire to be more than anyone else, and he knew, deep down, that was his downfall.

He had stated that maybe she was enough but she had known immediately that she wasn't. There was more that he wanted, more that he so desperately craved and part of him wished that he could accept she was it for him.

Yes, Peter Hale needed to figure out what to do, he needed to get to Sydney, he needed to make things right, or at the very least, he needed to convince her that she was enough.

Even if it wasn't totally true.

 _ **XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

 _ **Thank you to everyone who read this story as well as those of you who took the time to review.**_

 _ **That's it though, that's the end, at least until the new season starts**_

 _ **What did you guys think? What are you looking forward to?**_


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